White Queen's Knight
by Her Little Doll
Summary: "The deal is made; from now on, you are my slave. I will do whatever I wish to you, you will do whatever I say and in the unlikely event you are given the chance, you will not try to escape me. This is for the rest of your life, Ichiru." Shizuka/Ichiru
1. Prologue

_(A/N I used a short cut in order to skip the formatting so the document came out weird. It's legible though, it just doesn't have indenting. Regrettable, I know. x.x I'll only do this for the first three installments. *grimace*)_

Prologue: Deal With the Devil

It was strange that the school was so empty. Despite it being after class on a Friday afternoon, there was usually the occasional student wandering around or heading off to some private tutorial with a teacher. No, the place was completely deserted, not even a single teacher working late.  
Ichiru shifted the strap of his book bag higher up on his shoulder, his footsteps echoing eerily off of the linoleum floors. He was very tall for a sixth grader but he was skinny, his frail body unable to handle the exercise that would make it strong. His silver hair fell messily around his face, his amethyst eyes partly obscured by the pale locks. The bag slung across his shoulder carried sheet music.  
He had been playing the piano for five years, taking on music at his parents' insistence. Since he could not participate in regular PE and especially not the extra physical courses his twin, Zero, took, they had dumped the uninteresting hobby in his lap and said 'learn it'. Ichiru did not mind playing the piano, but it wasn't exactly what one would call rapturous.  
Even so, he practiced diligently and found he was actually good at it. It was a small blessing, being skilled at some unimportant thing; even though his teacher praised him to no end, it never so much as turned his parents' heads. Experimenting, half-wondering if he could do something to impress them, he spent time writing music, composing pieces that became gradually more intricate as he aged. His piano teacher, Yamane Shouko, was delighted and set up concerts for him. He performed without err; his parents never attended.  
Zero always did, of course.  
As the sons of hunters, both twins had learned to use weapons at an early age. Their hunter mentor, Yagari Touga, instructed them twice a week on the most effective ways to exterminate vampires. Zero's chosen weapons were guns and occasionally, katanas. Ichiru preferred to fight with a blade but he spent more time with throwing knives- they required less physical strength and more precision. His weak body could handle them. He practiced fighting diligently as well but his body could only take so much.  
Yagari, or Shishou as they called him, never paid him much attention anyway. Shishou was well aware of which twin had a chance of becoming a powerful hunter and which would not even cross the line of completed apprenticeship.  
Walking passed classrooms, Ichiru glanced inside, met with nothing but empty rows of desks. This wasn't only strange, he decided. It was suspicious also. There was a foreboding feeling in the air, perhaps something his inherited hunter senses picked up. It made his skin prickle, but he did not tense or glance warily over his shoulder. His distant expression did not waver.  
Ichiru was heading to his piano lesson now, but he already was half-certain his teacher would be absent. Something was undeniably wrong. There was a good chance he was being watched as well. Perhaps he would make it out of the Middle School building undeterred, but what awaited him was…  
"Nani, Ichiru? You got scared and ran right back home to Zero? Now I'll have to call Shouko-sensei to apologize. You know, Zero can't be there to hold your hand all your life."  
Yes, his parents would probably say something exactly like that.  
Oh, what did it matter if he died now? Ichiru shook his head to himself, a bitter sigh escaping his lips. If he didn't exist, Zero would be free to become a hunter without his ball-and-chain of a little brother. What a sickening thought.  
The elder twin was a prodigy and no one could deny it.  
Giving up was just something that rubbed Ichiru the wrong way, so he calmly continued his walk to the piano room, murmuring hunter spells under his breath.  
He first surrounded himself with a subtle shield, the incantation more complex in order to keep vampires from sensing it's presence. Within five feet of him, vampires would feel slightly dizzy and then wholly unbalanced if they touched him. It was weak as it surrounded him but it would grow stronger the more time it had to improve itself. The next spell he cast opened his senses further, enhancing his awareness of the vampiric auras around him. His heart skipped a beat- he had been right. There were five commoner vampires in the vicinity and he knew where each of them was- cutting off the exits.  
He was already planning his attack, suicidal as it was- and he would worry about the reason for the vampire's being here when his life was no longer at risk. He had no weapon; knives of any sort were not allowed in the school building. The spells he knew were of limited use. He would have to rely every little bit on his hunter training. This was no longer a choice regardless- his spell-heightened senses told him fully well that escape without conflict was impossible. The vampires were slowly closing in on him. They were here for him. They were watching him.  
Ichiru drew a low breath, ducking into the nurse's office as he passed by. First aid kits were piled along the gray shelves, neat and orderly in the sterilized-smelling room. He scanned the rows of medical supplies, eyes lighting on a kit labeled for treating snake bites. He dug around inside it until he found a little glass bottle full of pinkish-red liquid. He tucked it into his book bag and left, continuing down the hallway. The vampire nearest to him stalked closer, tailing him on silent feet. Ichiru breathed steadily, doing everything he could to keep his heart from pounding. Vampiric hearing was exquisite- no doubt they were aware of every little sound he made.  
His next stop was the janitor's closet.  
The organized air of the nurse's office had not infected the poorly lit closet. When Ichiru flicked on the light, a dim glow filled the room, shining down from a single bulb that hung from the ceiling on a wire. Shelves of chaotically stored tools and cleaning supplies lined the walls, a metal box in the back of the closet thrumming softly in the silence.  
Ichiru grabbed a glass jar from the shelf, unscrewing the metal cap and dumping its contents of screws and bolts onto the floor. Next, he moved to the generator in the back of the room. His amethyst eyes briefly searched for the cap of its fuel tank but after a moment's search he found it. He pulled off the plastic lid, dipping the jar inside to take in a few drops of gasoline. He put the lid of the jar back on, turning the glass so that the fuel coated the insides.  
His heartbeat sped up as he carefully poured out the excess. Would he have enough time? The gasoline began to dry but his senses warned of an approaching vampire. He looked to the door- the knob was turning!  
Ichiru sucked in a sharp breath, lunging towards the door and barreling it open. The wood slammed into a hard body but still gave forward. He heard a ragged cry of surprise from a male throat as he slipped through the opening out into the hallway. He did not have time to look back; he started running, hurling himself away from the vampiric presence behind him. It would have him in a second if he waited, he told himself frantically.  
He dug the bottle out of his bag, popping open the lid to pour a few droplets into his glass jar. He let the bottle fall to the floor as he screwed on the jar's lid. He felt the vampire approaching leisurely- it was playing with him. Ichiru was hardly inclined to lament its mistake; he smiled grimly and spun around, hurling the jar ten feet at the vampire with all his strength. Then he pivoted and ran.  
He heard the explosion, felt it shake the floor as it tore holes in the wall and ceiling. He heard the scream of pain, the heat on his skin as splinters of debris flung against his back. He fell to the floor, his music bag falling away from him. Breathing hard, he dared a glance over his shoulder. Flames were receding, leaving the blackened carpet torn and smoking. Little bits of flesh clung to the ceiling, falling down to the floor now and then. Moments later, the bloody pieces of the once-vampire all dissolved into ash. Ichiru expelled a shaky breath, then set off again. There was no way the commoner's friends had not heard that.  
Acting casual was no longer a priority; he ran with all the speed he possessed towards the cafeteria. He knew he could not keep it up for long but he still tried not to notice the complaints his body was voicing in little cramps and aches. He felt slightly dizzy, the walls blurring as he passed by. It was true that his physical senses were weakening; his mind could never have been sharper however. He had just killed a level C vampire and there were four more to deal with; he was not going to lose to his own frailty.  
The cafeteria's tile floors dimly reflected the light from the large room's windows. Rows and rows of tables were stacked against the walls, cleaned up after school hours. Ichiru raced through the room, cutting diagonally across it towards the kitchen area. He felt another presence creeping toward him, shadowed slightly- but not accompanied by- three others. His feet hammered frantically on the floor as he pushed himself farther, breaths tearing raggedly from his throat.  
Quickly as he could, he ducked behind the buffet counter and let his back fall against the shiny metal. He tried to calm his breathing, his eyes darting about the closed off area. At the door of the cafeteria, a commoner vampire slowly emerged.  
Ichiru closed his eyes briefly, then began to move. Beneath the sink he found a collection of cleaning chemicals, his shaking hands knocking over bottles as he fumbled for what he needed. Gathering the right materials, he turned and snatched up a rectangular, metal pan from the serving counter as well as a cylindrical container holding plastic utensils. He knelt down on the floor, dumping out the plastic knifes and unscrewing the cap of one of his cleaners. He shook its contents of white powder into the container, then carefully set it aside. From the other bottle he had taken from beneath the sink, he poured sharp-smelling liquid into the pan.  
Deliberate footsteps echoed on the cafeteria floor- the vampire was approaching. Ichiru placed the pan on the floor below the serving counter; on the bar directly above it, he set the cup, almost spilling its contents in his haste.  
"Hey, kid."  
Ichiru froze at the sound of the vampire's voice. It was close, too close- on the other side of the counter. He slowly looked up, his gaze locking on a red pair of eyes. A lean-bodied man with dark hair and a beautiful face looked down at him, his arms folded over the serving counter's edge. The vampire's slender frame was garbed all in black and a cold smile adorned his lips.  
"You blew up my friend, didn't you, hunterling?" the dark-haired commoner continued, crimson eyes glinting. "How did you do that? A hunter spell?" He looked slightly nauseas as he spoke, a mild effect of Ichiru's spell shield.  
"He's dead- that's all that matters," Ichiru replied, responding to the vampire's cold tone with ice of his own. Despite his agitated state, his voice was steady. "Why don't you tell me the reason for this coordinated attack? Or do commoners get their kicks now from stalking hunter trainees?" He had good luck- the vampires apparently still did not consider him a threat. This one was in the mood to talk. Ichiru picked up one of the scattered plastic knives and tucked it into his sleeve.  
"No, no," the vampire denied, shaking his head mildly. "This isn't for kicks." As he spoke, he straightened, leisurely moving to walk around the counter. "We're here for a very specific reason- to eliminate one Kiryuu Ichiru-kun." Then he added with a grin, "not two."  
"Alright, I get it," Ichiru replied lowly, standing and retreating back around the counter as the commoner came toward him. "You're here to kill me and not my twin- all five of you- at the behest of…?"  
"Well, we were hired," the dark-haired man hinted, their positions now reversed. The vampire paid no mind to the cup, content to regard Ichiru. "You know our employers too."  
"Who are they?" Ichiru demanded, eyes narrowing.  
"I've already given you enough hints." Abruptly the vampire leaned forward across the counter, showing his teeth in a vicious, fanged smile. "It's time for you to guess, kid."  
"I have better things to do then play your games," the hunter trainee refused harshly, taking a few steps back. He was backing away from the counter into the cafeteria but he doubted the vampire would let him get far.  
"Do you really?" The commoner raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? If you guess right, I promise to kill you quickly- in my opinion that's quite a productive use of time. You get something out of it."  
"Hah, yeah," Ichiru said dryly. "Ne, would you mind staying right there for a moment?"  
He did not give the vampire an opportunity to respond; with a quick word, he cast a flimsy spell to briefly hold the vampire paralyzed. Warily moving backward, Ichiru drew the plastic knife from his sleeve and focused on the cup. He drew a low breath, then hurled the plastic utensil at his target.  
The weight was slightly different from that of his throwing knives but by fate's good will, he managed to knock the cup from the counter. White powder spilled down the vampire's black shirt and into the pan of chemicals below it. Ichiru did not waste time waiting for the reaction- he turned and ran.  
He felt his spell dissipate, broken by the vampire's struggles. He heard a splash as his foe upset the pan and the near-instantaneous explosion that resulted from the powder's contact with the chemical. A ragged shriek shook the walls of the room as fire and poisonous fumes erupted to engulf the commoner.  
Ichiru exited the cafeteria, its metal doors slamming shut behind him. He allowed himself a moment to catch his breath. If the chemicals had spilled across the vampire's clothes, he might have died from the flames alone. If not, the toxic fumes would poison him into near-uselessness; commoner vampires could only perish if their head or heart was destroyed but even they were not immune to such deadly gases.  
Ichiru looked down, letting the situation register in his mind. He had just killed two level C vampires- the third strongest class of vampire. He briefly had the vain urge for his parents to see him now- he wasn't useless. Could Zero have done that? Maybe, but Zero was more the type to attempt physical combat. Against commoner vampires, it was a more risky approach. Ichiru had twice emerged victorious from a situation that guaranteed his death. Perhaps this feat could even qualify him as strong.  
Ichiru smiled bitterly, distantly reminiscing over his many lessons in which Shishou had taught the twins which chemicals combined made quick explosives. "You may not have been talking to me, Shishou," he murmured, "but I sure as hell was listening."  
Reminding himself that toxic fumes could spread, he set off down the hallway and let his mind search for the remaining three vampires. Casting a paralysis spell had taken a lot out of him but he was able to move onward in a brisk walk. The emptiness of the school building once again asserted itself in the form of silence, each second of quiet adding tension to the silver-haired boy's frame. Nowhere- he could not find them. Had they left? It seemed unlikely. He was still painfully outnumbered and two explosions were unlikely to scare them off. He had only succeeded so far due to their underestimation of his abilities. That would not have changed so drastically in such a small amount of time- fleeing him now would be overestimating his abilities.  
It seemed far more likely that, realizing it was poor health to play around with him, they would group together and attack him all at once- a scenario in which he would be, of course, at quite a disadvantage and probably killed with little delay.  
Unfortunately for Ichiru, that was exactly what took place- more or less.  
The auras that had disappeared from his senses abruptly reappeared, concentrated into three presences directly behind him. Ichiru froze, feeling the gaze of three commoners on him. The hairs on the back of his neck rose, his heart losing what little calm it had gained in his brief respite from battle.  
"That hunter woman most definitely said 'helpless', did she not?" The voice was a woman's, slightly rough around the harder syllables. She sounded only meters away. "Did I hear her wrong? 'The boy is helpless and useless at fighting. You'll have no trouble with him'. Is that not what she said?"  
"It is indeed," a deeper, masculine voice agreed. "Her husband too made it quite clear that we should not take this assignment seriously."  
"It seems we were mislead," the third concluded, an irritated tone in his nasally voice.  
Ichiru turned to face them, glaring openly at the two men and one woman. They all bore crimson eyes, speaking of thirst, and dark clothing. Their features were beautiful but did not particularly draw his gaze; their dangerous expressions, if nothing else, very much caught his attention.  
"Perhaps we've got the wrong boy?" the woman drawled, regarding Ichiru critically. "Perhaps faulty information lead us to attack the hunter trainee prodigy rather than the useless musician? They could hardly blame us for that."  
"Kiryuu had better pay us more for the two casualties we've suffered," the nasally-voiced vampire hissed.  
Ichiru's breath caught in his throat. "What…did you say?" he breathed.  
"Ah, he speaks!" exclaimed the woman mildly. "Tell us, hunterling, are you indeed Kiryuu Ichiru-kun?"  
"You said 'Kiryuu had better pay you,'" Ichiru told her, his voice raising in volume. "What the hell do you mean by that?!"'  
"We mean your mommy and daddy want you dead, you little brat," the nasally-voiced man snapped.  
"Yes, we were hired to kill their son, Kiryuu Ichiru," the woman reaffirmed blandly. "The point is, are you actually Ichiru-kun or are you the other kid- Zoro…Zero or whatever."  
"Wouldn't want to kill the wrong one, now would we?" the deep-voiced vampire snorted.  
"Your parents want a fighter, not a pianist," the woman agreed, nodding her head. Her eyes narrowed. "Speak, brat!"  
"My parents would never do that," Ichiru said, his voice shaking slightly. He already didn't believe the words but he wanted the vampires to think he did. With any luck, he knew his parents better then they did and knowing them, he realized he should have seen this coming. The vampires realized only that he was caught off-guard by the truth. "They would never want Ichiru dead!" he continued. "You're lying!"  
"Yes, we're actually here because we each have personal vendettas against little white-haired pyromaniacs," the nasally voiced said sarcastically.  
"I don't like pianists," the woman smiled thinly.  
"So he really is the wrong twin?" her deep-voiced companion guessed, running a hand through his dark-blond hair. "We're dead if we kill the prodigy."  
"You're dead if you kill me or my brother," Ichiru whispered, trying to sound furious. "I don't know what kind of deluded nutcases you are but my parents love us both! If they wouldn't track you down and kill you, I would. Don't you dare touch Ichiru!"  
"So, Zero-kun, is it?" the woman asked, raising an eyebrow. "How do we know you're not lying to save your own skin? We can't actually trust you when you say you aren't the younger Kiryuu twin."  
"You want to know how?" he raised an eyebrow. "Go look in the cafeteria or the hallway where I blew up your pals. If the blood stains on the ceiling don't clue you in, your failure is due more to incompetence then misinformation."  
"Brat," the nasally-voiced commoner growled.  
"Ne, Shouhei," the woman said to him, "wasn't the kid carrying a bag when he came in?"  
"Yeah, he was," he answered, shooting her a questioning look.  
"Go find it," she suggested. "It probably has some sort of identification in it."  
"Right," he muttered, turning and with inhuman speed disappearing down the hall.  
"He won't find it," Ichiru said, forced bravado in his tone. "It exploded along with the first vampire lowlife I killed. Even if he picks it pieces by piece off the ceiling, it won't due him much good."  
"Running your big mouth won't due you much good," the female vampire informed him warningly, "so shut up before we decide we don't care which twin you are."  
He glared at her but stopped talking.  
He considered attacking them now while they were lesser in number but soon threw away the notion. They were faster, stronger than he was and he had no weapon other than his own two fists. His only hope was to convince them he was Zero and if they found his bag, even that chance was more or less worthless.  
His heart sank when the third vampire reappeared holding his slightly worse for wear music bag.  
"This what you were talking about, Asano-san?" the nasally-voiced vampire asked the woman. He held it up before her eyes with two fingers.  
She took it from him, wrenching it open with a rough tug. Her eyes surveyed the contents for a moment before she withdrew several music books. "Sheet music, huh?" she queried flatly. "Now why would Zero-kun be carrying this? Target practice? Something to blow up?"  
Ichiru stared at her silently, his expression impassive. Finally, he said, "make sure to give my parents hell for misleading you. Maybe if they know I killed two of you, they will regret my death just a little."  
"Ah," the woman said in revelation, rolling her eyes upward. "So Ichiru-kun is a pyromaniac, a convincing liar and oh, so helpless. Ha. Remind me to require a complete portfolio of the next miserable fool we go after."  
"Tch," her deep-voiced friend shrugged. "Let's get this done with." He advanced on Ichiru.  
Ichiru wracked his mind for spells, plans, anything that could save his life but he came up just as blank as before. There was nothing that could kill all three of them at once, nothing that could save his life. He was really going to die, sentenced to death by his own parents who did not want the useless twin dragging his brother down into obscurity.  
Several feet away from him, the deep-voiced vampire lurched, staggering as a wave of imbalance washed over him. The shield Ichiru had initially cast upon realizing his danger was taking effect. The hunter trainee drew a low breath and took a lunging step forward, using his momentum to power an openhanded strike to the vampire's nose. The commoner let out a gurgling roar of pain as the heel of Ichiru's palm bashed his nose inward, causing blood to spurt from his nostrils. The powerful strike had sent the vampire's bone smashing up into his brain, his face crushed in a bloody, disfigured mass. It would have killed a human.  
"Oi!" the nasally-voiced vampire exclaimed. "Can't you take out an unarmed kid?"  
Vampires, however, were basically impossible to kill barehanded.  
Slowly, the commoner's face reformed, his eyes focusing as he spit blood out onto the floor. He looked around wildly, his expression murderous as he prepared to repay the pain he had been given. Ichiru was already gone however, sprinting down the hallway away from the vampires in a frantic attempt to flee.  
With inhuman speed, the female commoner darted forward, catching his wrist in her grip. The effect of his shield took a hold of her however and she lost her balance, toppling down to the floor and dragging him with her.  
"Careful!" Ichiru heard the nasally-voiced vampire call. "He's got some sort of shield on him!"  
The hunter trainee struggling to free himself of the woman, exploiting her nauseas state to the utmost. He elbowed her in the face, kicking at her torso as she woozily clawed at him. Her long nails tore through his sleeve, just barely breaking the skin of his arm. A lucky kick to her stomach released her hold on him and Ichiru scrambled to his feet.  
"If you walk slowly, it's not as bad," the blond was telling his nasally-voiced friend as they carefully approached Ichiru.  
The silver-haired boy sent another kick to the woman's temple as she tried to rise and she fell back down in a sprawl, cursing him and grasping for his ankles. He backed away from them all, then whirled around, taking off once more. They shot after him but kept their distance, knowing they would fall down if they got too close. They just had to catch him at the right moment to win the battle- and he could not keep running forever.  
Exhaustion was beginning to overtake him. Hand-to-hand fighting was what Ichiru was worst at, requiring the most power behind every blow. He had gotten in a few lucky hits due to his shield but now he was dizzy with fatigue, his muscles screaming their overuse as he ran through the school.  
Gasping in another ragged breath, he darted into a classroom to one side and slammed the door shut after him. Desperately relying on his dizzying shield, he spent a few precious seconds whispering incantations. Exhaustion assaulted him further as he completed each anti-vampire ward, casting the charms upon the door between him and his attackers. They were not very good wards. He could not be sure if or how long they would hold.  
He collapsed to the floor, barely able to muster enough strength to stay away. His entire body felt heavy, his vision tunnel-like and nausea making the walls spin. Something banged loudly against the door and he felt the wood vibrate beneath his fingers, unable to make sense of the shouts on the other side. He thought he heard a gunshot but it could only be the vampires destroying their surroundings. Would they come through the wall? The idea frightened him.  
Weakly, Ichiru dragged himself to his hands and knees, forcing his eyes open to blearily regard the room. He was in an empty classroom, the dirty carpet flooring slightly sticky to the touch. Rows of desks were lined throughout the room, colorful posters covering the walls with cheery and academically inspirational sayings. There was a teacher's desk in the back of the room and no way out.  
He lurched to his feet, placing a hand on a desk to push himself up. The hand and even the arm he used shook with the effort. It took him awhile but he managed to reach the far wall, moving to hunch beneath the teacher's desk. Would it buy him any time? The pounding had stopped for now- he sincerely hoped they were not calmly reciting counter spells instead.  
He let out a weary breath, closing his eyes. Was he going to die?  
Then the door opened and he started in alarm. The wards had not broken- he would have noticed otherwise. How could they just effortlessly open the door without first breaking the wards?! He tried to slow his still heavy breathing, tried to will the vampires away with his mind, chanting in his mind 'I'm not here, I'm not here, I'm not here…' His senses were a mess; he could not tell how many of them had entered the room.  
The sound of the door shutting reached his ears along with the soft murmur of someone speaking an incantation. Then he heard an unbelievably, heartbreakingly familiar voice.  
"Ichiru?"  
The single word was shaky, horrified, furious, protective and concerned. Ichiru felt his breath hitch in his throat. Somehow, he found the strength to reply.  
"I'm here, Zero," he told his twin softly. The wards not breaking made sense now; they did not apply to hunters.  
A moment later, Zero appeared beside him, kneeling down to better see his twin. Ichiru stared almost dazedly at his double's pale face, the messy silver hair, the stricken and angry amethyst eyes. Then he drew a sharp breath because Zero was hurt.  
Ragged gashes slashed down the elder twin's torso, extending diagonally from his shoulder to his stomach. His plain, uniform shirt was soaked with blood; the white fabric hung in tatters from his lean frame. One of his hands was pressed to his side.  
"Zero…" Ichiru breathed in horror. "You're hurt…"  
"I managed to kill one of the bastards," Zero told him darkly, "but I was only able to shoot the second in the shoulder before he grabbed the gun out of my hand. The woman came up behind me and I didn't turn in time. It's not that bad."  
"Are they out there?" his brother questioned, leaning closer to see how deep Zero's injuries were. The three slashes scoring his brother's skin ran parallel to each other, the middle one deeper than the other two. It was the only cut that was serious, worst at the shoulder; the other two were just scratches in comparison. The only thing Zero was in danger of was losing too much blood.  
"No," the elder shook his head. "The woman dragged her ugly friend off to get the bullet out. I think they were pretty shaken by me showing up- they thought I was you."  
"Well, that's one advantage," Ichiru murmured with little energy. "Will you tell me what you're doing here then?"  
Zero was full-out scowling but not at his twin. "I was going to Shishou's but I ran into Shouko-sensei. Weird, right? She was parked on our street waiting for me. She asked me why our parents had cancelled your piano lesson since they had hung up abruptly without elaborating. Said she didn't like their tone- it worried her." His voice grew quiet and Ichiru was surprised to hear loathing in his tone. "That was even stranger- that they had cancelled it, you know? I thought they would at least have mentioned such a thing to you before merrily wishing you on your way. According to Shouko-sensei, they called her hours before we stopped home after school."  
"Hah, well, they wouldn't want to accidentally kill Shouko-sensei, I guess," Ichiru sighed. He reached out, catching his brother's arm and laying his head on Zero's unwounded shoulder. "Look what you've done now, idiot. We'll both die."  
"You're saying it's true?" Zero whispered, wrapping his arm around his twin. "Kaa-san and Tou-san…actually caused this? Those three vampires came here to kill you?"  
"Five vampires," Ichiru corrected wearily. "I already killed two of them."  
"I…I can't believe it…" The elder twin's jaw was clenched.  
"Neither could I," the younger joked with a wan smile. "Who ever thought I'd be able to handle two level C's?"  
"Not that!" Zero snapped. "Of course you could- you're brilliant. Our own parents…our own parents dealt with vampires to kill…to kill the person I treasure the most."  
Ichiru scoffed at that, closing his eyes. Zero should not have shown up at all, the idiot. Ichiru could not deny his relief however; just being near his twin calmed him down.  
"Do you remember when we were little kids, Zero?" he asked softly, "and I asked Kaa-san why I was always so sick?" He felt Zero tense against him but continued. "In the womb, we fought," he breathed, "and you won. You took half my strength- so you'll definitely become an incredible hunter. Every other set of hunter twins throughout time has had one of the two born dead and the other with the strength of two hunters." He laughed. "Does that make you one and a half hunters?"  
"Ichiru…" Zero said, at a loss for how to respond.  
"It would have been better if we were just born as one person," the younger twin told him. His voice lowered. "You should have just killed me, Zero."  
"Don't say that," his brother whispered harshly. "Please."  
"But that's why Kaa-san and Tou-san want me dead," Ichiru said, smiling at his brother's agonized expression. "I'm just a hindrance to you. I'm just dragging you down. Perhaps this is for the best, after all. You shouldn't have come. It might be too late for you now."  
Zero bowed his head, trembling slightly.  
Ichiru grinned. "Just imagine their faces when they find out both of us are dead."  
The elder twin's head snapped up. "Shut up!" he cried, the words almost a snarl. His eyes were wild and to Ichiru's shock, tears were streaming down his cheeks. "You're not going to die! Damn it!" He drew a low breath, seizing a fistful of the younger twin's hair and dragging their faces close together. "Don't you dare say that even one more time!" he ordered harshly. "'I should have killed you?' 'This is for the best?!' You deserve everything I have! I'm the one…" He faltered, his voice losing its ferocity. "I'm the one who stole your strength. This is all my fault."  
Ichiru stared at him impassively. It was always when they were both in pain that they really felt like one person, he reflected. Finally, he said, "I'm not going to die? Such sentiments are valuable to be sure, Zero, but I think you're being slightly unrealistic. We have no weapons, you're practically bleeding to death and I'm so exhausted I can't stand up. Even if you've strengthened my wards, they'll get in."  
"I meant it," Zero said coldly. "You're not going to die. That's because…I'm going to try to atone for what I did."  
Ichiru's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that?"  
"I'll leave Kaa-san and Tou-san to you," he said intensely. "Tell them you're me until you get a chance and then kill the bastards. As for that filthy scum outside, they don't know both of us are here, do they?" He pushed Ichiru away, eyes locked on his twin's face. "That means when they kill a Kiryuu twin, they'll leave."  
Ichiru sucked in a sharp breath, a shout of protest on his lips. It, like everything else, faded away into darkness when Zero knocked him out with a powerful punch to the chin.  
"I'm sorry…Ichiru."  
Ichiru was finally able to push back the fog of his unnaturally-induced sleep when a slender hand gently patted him on the head. He jolted awake, Zero's name on his lips as he sat up. Wildly, he looked around, dizziness and a splitting headache making him wince.  
It was not Zero however, who had woken him.  
His wide eyes met the gaze of an unearthly beautiful woman. She knelt beside him, a silken kimono wrapped around her slim frame and her long, silver hair falling down to her waist. Her eyes were the color of cherry blossoms, half-veiled by dark lashes and glinting with hidden intentions. Her smile was ambiguous. Her aura was distorted- cloaked by some sort of concealment charm- but undoubtedly that of a very powerful vampire.  
He flinched back, pressing himself to the underside of the desk as he watched her warily. She continued to smile, waiting for him to speak. At least she was not attacking him.  
"Are you…one of them?" he asked, trying to make his eyes focus on her slightly blurring image. The words hurt to speak; his jaw ached. "You're stronger…a noble at least."  
"I am not one of your attackers, Ichiru," she assured him in a velvety voice, amusement written on her face.  
"How do you know my name?" he asked, tensing. "Where is Zero?"  
"I know your name because I have been watching you," she replied easily. "Your brother is currently cornered, severely injured and about to die." She said all that pleasantly like she was conversing with him over the weather.  
The color drained from Ichiru's face, the second of her answers brushing the first from his mind. "The idiot," he breathed, slipping passed her and peering up over the edge of the desk. The room was empty; he stood, wobbling slightly as he made his way around the desk.  
"And what are you going to do?" the silver-haired vampire questioned with interest, also rising to her feet- though with considerably more grace than he had. A bell strung around her waist rang with the movement. "You do not even know where he is…and if you did, what could you do about it?"  
He made his way down the rows of desks towards the door, his stomach churning unpleasantly and his head pounding. "Ah…" he muttered, her question taxing his exhausted mind. "My parents hired those vampires to kill me but they don't want Zero dead. If I reveal myself, it's likely Zero won't be harmed. Maybe they won't kill either of us if we confuse them enough." He was aware of her following him as he staggered out of the room.  
"A fair plan," she commended him, walking along beside him as he hastily lurched down the hallway. "You did not address my first point however."  
Ichiru stopped. He did not really have the time to contemplate her peculiarity in both arrival and manner and so long as she was not a threat, he wasn't eager to do so. She had, however informed him of Zero's situation and that meant one, very important thing.  
"You know where Zero is," he said. It was not a question.  
"Coincidently," she confirmed with a sly smile.  
He did not like that smile actually. If only he had time to properly think over what her presence meant. Zero came first, however. "Well? Tell me where he is!" he demanded, a bit of desperation in his voice. "If you don't care enough to answer me that much, you can stop following me around!"  
"That's rather rude of you," she commented, affecting an offended expression. "No one will listen to anything you say if you don't ask nicely, ill-mannered child."  
He stared at her flatly for a moment. "My apologies," he said finally. "Could you please tell me where my brother is, Miss Vampire?"  
"Even if I did," she speculated, "you would never get there in time. It's across the school from here."  
"I'll run," he promised dryly, using sarcasm to hide his increasing panic. "Please, as you say, there is not much time."  
"I'm saying it's impossible," she told him, leaning closer to him as though studying his expressions. "You could be in perfect health and run with your highest level of speed and you would not make it in time. Zero will be dead within five minutes and in your state, you could not make it to his side within ten."  
"It doesn't matter!" Ichiru exclaimed frantically. "Just tell me where he is!"  
"Are you sure?" she queried, with such casualness as to make her cruel. "I was just about to offer to make a deal…"  
"A deal?" he asked guardedly.  
"Sou," she affirmed with one of her sly smiles. "If you accept, I'll save Zero for you."  
He inhaled sharply. Forget that he might be acquiring the future occupation of permanent snack food or agreeing to sabotage the Association somehow. "I accept! It doesn't matter what you want in exchange- I'll do anything. I can't let that idiot die!"  
"Oh, really?" She raised an eyebrow. "Love between brothers is really so adorable…Alright then. We have a deal. Shall we?" She took a hold of his elbow.  
Then the world shifted. He was in a completely different room, halfway across the school in the gym. He was clueless as to how he had gotten there but it probably had something to do with the vampire at his side. Had she carried him here? In less than an instant? Her speed numbed his mind.  
Zero was standing backed against the far wall, his amethyst eyes burning with hatred as he stared at the two vampires cornering him. His injuries were worse; added to the gashes across his chest, there were cuts along his cheek and he was favoring his left leg. His attackers seemed mostly unharmed but the nasally-voiced one Ichiru remembered had been called 'Shouhei' had a bullet wound in one shoulder. The woman, Asano, was wearing an angry, vicious smile.  
Zero's eyes flickered to Ichiru in shock and then to the bizarre stranger who accompanied him. Asano glanced over her shoulder to see what he was looking at and froze, her posture becoming tense.  
"Two twins?" she breathed. She turned her eyes to the silver-haired vampire. "Who the hell are you?"  
"Hiou Shizuka," Ichiru's benefactor answered simply, idly even. Then whatever spell had been concealing her aura fell away.  
Ichiru flinched back in shock, his senses reeling at the staggeringly powerful presence that emanated from her. Asano and Shouhei faced her now, the color gone from their faces. The reason was simple; she was a pureblood.  
"M-my lady…" Asano choked out, her eyes wide with fear. "I meant no offense."  
"No?" Shizuka said softly, her smile predatory now. "But you have offended me greatly." She raised one slender hand, pointing at Zero with her forefinger. "That boy is under my protection. I am inclined to kill one who has hurt him."  
Shouhei blanched, retreating a step as though wondering if he could run before she caught him. "We…truly…had no idea," he managed. "It just seemed like normal Association treachery- Shizuka-sama, for a pureblood to be involved-"  
"Do not be so familiar, commoner rat," Shizuka said lowly, her smile vanishing.  
In an instant, Shouhei exploded into bloody pulp, his body seeming to rip itself to shreds from the inside. He had not even a chance to scream. His dripping remains splattered across the wall and a fine, red mist descended on the shiny gym floor. A whimper escaped Asano's lips.  
Zero watched Shizuka tensely, his back pressed against the gym wall. Every so often, he glanced at his brother as though aching to run forward and snatch Ichiru from Shizuka's grip.  
Ichiru could not take his eyes off of what had once been Shouhei. With whatever power resided in her mind, Shizuka had killed the commoner so fast that his remains did not even revert to ash. What god-like strength was this? No wonder both level C's had been petrified with fear. Ichiru allowed himself a moment of relief that the freakishly scary person was on his side- so to speak.  
Shaking with terror, Asano sank to her knees. "Spare me, Lady Pureblood," she begged shamelessly. "I implore you."  
Shizuka moved forward, unhurriedly crossing the gym and through her grip on his elbow, pulling Ichiru along with her. Asano cringed back as she neared, placing her forehead to the floor in a groveling position. The commoner's entire body trembled.  
"You will actually be lucky today," Shizuka said, a gentle smile appearing on her lips. "I need you to complete a task for me."  
Asano looked up, her eyes wide. "Anything, my lady!"  
"Oh? What a relief," the pureblood murmured. "I can't imagine what I would do if you had refused. The little errand you will fulfill is similar to what you would already be doing anyway. All I need is for you to report to Kiryuu Saika and Kiryuu Akihiro that your job is done and Ichiru is dead. Tell them you shredded his body into little pieces after he killed two of your accomplices. Easy enough?"  
"Yes, yes, I will do as you ask," Asano nodded fervently.  
Shizuka met her gaze directly, her eyes suddenly very intense. "One more thing. Once you have successfully reported to your employers, make it so that no one will notice your absence and then kill yourself. Throughout your last hours of life, do not mention what has truly occurred here to anyone. Do you understand?"  
Asano's eyes glazed over and she nodded again. "Is shall be done, my lady." Her voice was no longer frightened and eager however; it was a lifeless monotone, the manner of one in thrall. Slowly she stood, turned and expressionlessly left the room.  
Silence reigned for a few moments between the pureblood and the twins. Ichiru stared blankly at the gore-spattered floor. "That won't be fun for the maintenance crew to clean up," he observed numbly.  
"Ichiru…" Zero said lowly, watching Shizuka with wary eyes. "That woman is a pureblood vampire. Why did she help us?"  
"Actually…" Ichiru faltered, his brow furrowing. "I'm not so clear on the details." He donned a nervous smile, glancing questioningly at Shizuka.  
She did not reply, slowly strolling across the blood-drenched wood as she surveyed the large room. Ichiru noticed she was not wearing shoes. "Quite an ideal scene, isn't it?" she asked softly. "Your parents and the authorities will assume your corpse was shredded, Ichiru- the commoner will only confirm that theory. They will not consider this to truly be the remains of a vampire since only with a pureblood's telekinesis can a lesser vampire be destroyed in a way that it does not dissolve into ash."  
"Answer the question!" Zero demanded. "Why did you help us, vampire?"  
"Hah, Zero," Ichiru muttered, "let's not make the kind pureblood angry with us, ne? There's more than enough bloody pulp on the floor."  
She ignored Zero, turning to regard the younger twin. "Do you wish to know the terms of the deal we made or is it still irrelevant to you?" She smiled mockingly. "I ask because I know there are many individuals within this world who prefer to be surprised by everything that comes to pass. Perhaps you are one of these?"  
"No," Ichiru shook his head. "Please tell me, Miss Pureblood."  
"Very well," she agreed easily. "What you have bargained for is Zero's safety- that does not stop with this day. From now on, I will protect your brother from anything that might cause his harm. So long as both you and I are alive, that is, Ichiru."  
"Wow- really?" Ichiru blinked, his eyes wide.  
"Very nice of you," Zero seconded, edging around the pureblood as he headed for his brother; he limped slightly. Blood splashed on the soles of his shoes, the mist having now condensed into liquid puddles of red. "As fun as this has been and all, we should get going about now. If Kaa-san and Tou-san are after Ichiru, we'll have to run away."  
"There, now," Shizuka consoled him, "it's alright. Why would they be after him if they think he is dead?" Smoothly, she intercepted Zero and caught him by the shoulders. He stiffened, returning her gaze guardedly. Then he gasped because his wounds were gradually healing, a pale light glowing from her palms. When every scratch upon his body had disappeared, she released him.  
She turned back to Ichiru, closing the distance between them and taking a hold of his wrist. "The other part of our deal is the price I require for this service. I am quite certain it fits within your stated limits, rest assured."  
Ichiru grimaced, well aware that she was mocking him. "I said I would do anything, hah…"  
"Sou, ne?" she murmured, closing the metaphorical cage around him- or perhaps she was just reaffirming it. "Then from now on, you are my slave. I will do whatever I wish to you, you will do whatever I say and in the unlikely event you are given the chance, you will not try to escape me. This is for the rest of your life- or," she smiled sarcastically, "for the rest of mine, depending on who outlives the other. Considering who I am, I doubt either of us will die for a very, very long time."  
"What?" Zero whispered, a stricken look on his face.  
Ichiru's head reeled. He forced a smile onto his face. "Well…it's better than one of us dying, right, Zero?"  
"Maybe, it is," Shizuka said with a sly smile.  
"No!" the elder twin snarled, his eyes wild. His eyes darted around the room, about her as though searching and unable to find a way to attack her. She radiated power, the amused look in her cherry blossom eyes enunciating the hopelessness of his situation. "I won't let you take him!"  
Ichiru could see the agony in his brother's face. Zero had tried to atone for stealing his brother's strength by sacrificing his own life. In response, Ichiru had sold his soul in exchange for Zero's perpetual safety. Irony always hurt the most.  
"You don't have any choice, Zero," Shizuka informed the elder twin without sympathy. "I did not make this deal with you- you are just an element in it."  
"No…no!" His voice was swiftly becoming panicked, the frantic word spilling from his lips shakily. Ichiru understood- neither he nor Zero could possibly fight this woman. They had witnessed her strength with their own eyes and heard of it countless times in stories and legends. It was useless.  
The elder twin took a step forward and nearly slipped on the blood-drenched floor. "You can't take him! This was for my safety- then kill me!" His eyes were burning, desperation on his face as stumbled forward and seized her sleeve. "Kill me, or take me instead- just don't take Ichiru!"  
Ichiru watched calmly, impassively as his brother screamed broken entreaties.  
"How adorable," Shizuka laughed lowly. "Two twins who would die for each other. Were I you, Zero, I would stop complaining. You have been given a chance- one you would not have had if I hadn't concerned myself with you. You are alive. Ichiru is alive and your despicable parents will think he is dead. Not to mention, if I let him go- which I won't- you would just be hunted down by people who specialize in hunting, Ichiru would be killed and your memories would probably be erased. Am I not a saint to save you thus?"  
Zero stared at her, at a loss for words. She was something he could not fight. Something he could not fight was taking Ichiru away forever.  
"Shall I give you some small consolation?" she questioned lightly. "You heard me say that the deal would end if Ichiru or I died. All you have to do to save your precious twin is become powerful enough to kill a pureblood vampire. Surely it won't be so hard for one with the power of one and a half hunters." She smiled and this time, the cruelty in the expression was unveiled. "Thrive on your hatred, Zero. Otherwise, you will never get him back."


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One: All the Monsters

The world was gray.  
In a heavy haze, the dead-seeming emotion that shrouded Zero's mind drained away every color. The sky's pale blue bled away. The sun's brilliant gold became wan and sickly. The grass along the lonely path and the autumn leaves scattered across it were withered and lifeless. The air had lost its warmth. Everyone and everything was ugly. The world was ugly.  
Zero was walking home, a dark coat hiding his torn and bloodstained shirt. His family's house was an old mansion belonging to the Association and located on a moderately sized but not overly groomed estate. It was not far from town. Zero wished it was farther. He was not in the right state of mind to pull off the act required of him. Gripping the handle of his gun tightly at one side, his fingers clenched, knuckles becoming white. He wanted to commit murder. He wanted to scream. He wanted to set the world on fire- but he could only keep the mad emotions boiling beneath the surface of his expressionless face. He could let none of it out and so he let his exterior become dead and frigid.  
His footsteps were quiet as he ascended the stairs of the house's front porch. There were monsters within this place, he thought to himself. What were vampires? What were humans? Both seemed loathsome and despicable- worthy of death. Perhaps there was nothing but misery in the world, greed and ambition trampling every warm heart, every precious moment. Death was drawn to the brightest, reaching out with hungry fingers and beaten in its hunt only by loss and despair.  
The door swung open and the presences within were those of monsters. Zero longed to bring them death. He had death with which to repay them for their betrayal.  
Sunlight streamed in through the hallway windows, casting its glow open the shining wooden floors- but it was a sickly color. Nothing was bright and warm anymore.  
"Okaeri, Zero."  
He looked up to meet his mother's gaze. There were little signs of tension around her, a slight reddening to her eyes, the strained way she smiled. He stared at her blankly, taking her in. She stood with the power of a skilled fighter, a looseness in her stance that told of quick reflexes. Her long sleeved turtleneck and jeans were impeccably clean and unwrinkled. On her belt, there was a coil of wires.  
He had only a gun that would not leave a scratch on her. His eyes darted around the hallway- a vase, a basket full of umbrellas, a small table and shoes. None of them were very good weapons. The vase maybe could be broken, then used to slash her face into ribbons. The umbrellas had dull, steel tips. The table might be fine for bashing her tall frame, breaking bones. Zero thought all of that and stared at her impassively.  
"How was your lesson with Yagari-san?" she questioned, her brow furrowing with concern.  
He stared at her for a few moments more then said, "I'm Ichiru, Kaa-san."  
She drew a sharp breath, her eyes widening, the color leaving her face. "Ah…what…?" she breathed. Her hands at her sides tightened into fists.  
"Just kidding," he murmured softly, walking past her down the hall. He was being cruel. It wasn't enough. "After all, Ichiru's still at his piano lesson. Ne?"  
"Right," she said with a shaky laugh. "Of course."  
"My lesson was fine," he said over his shoulder. "I learned many, many things."  
"Wonderful," his mother said warmly but he was already gone, disappearing down the hallway. "Until later then…"  
He slipped into Ichiru's room, releasing a long breath at the drawn curtains and deep shadows before throwing himself face down on the bed. He laid still for a long moment, feeling like a crushing weight was attacking him from all sides, trying to pound him into the earth. He would shatter any moment. He would snap any moment and start running, start breaking and killing whatever he could lay his hands on. His fingers formed claws on the sheets, grasping the fabric as if it were the only anchor to reality. Tremors ran through him until he was breathing quickly.  
Ichiru was gone. Betrayed, stolen, worse than dead.  
His brother was trapped in the talons of a beast, bound to be tortured and battered and dehumanized. What life was that? What kind of life had Zero allowed his twin to be given?  
He had given him the life of one who was frail and sickly every day. That was since the day they were born. Now, Zero had given Ichiru the life of a slave, eternal prey to a being as cold and cruel as winter. It would be years before the elder twin could even dream of saving him. And when that time came, if he could actually find the strength somewhere, would he even know where to look?  
Zero's jaw clenched. He was going to break, Ichiru was already broken and it was all, all his fault.  
The setting sun struck against the curtains of Ichiru's room, tinting the dark fabric a blood red hue. Zero stared blankly at the wall, his eyes glassy, his breaths slow as if he were asleep and his body rigid as it had been for hours. The knock on the door came finally, a single, solemn tone that made him wearily close his eyes.  
"Come in," he said quietly.  
His father slipped inside, hesitation in his demeanor as he approached the bed. "You've been in here all this time, Zero?" he asked, his tone subdued. When the silver-haired boy said nothing in reply, Tou-san moved to sit down beside his son.  
Zero's eyes flew open. In the room there was a stack of music books, a bookshelf, picture frames, several sketches, pencils, text books and some throwing knives hung on the wall. The picture frames were closest on the bedside table. Their sharp corners might gouge out a person's eyes. Their glassy surfaces might break and slash at unsuspecting skin. The knives were better though, just a lunge away and capable of piercing clean through a man's heart. Zero thought all this and sat up to meet his father's gaze.  
Tou-san looked away, a broken expression on his face. Maybe it was genuine; Zero did not care. "Zero," Tou-san said quietly, his voice slow and unsteady. "I…I have something to tell you." Zero said nothing. Tou-san hung his head. "Today…there was a vampire attack at your school- your brother…Ichiru was…killed."  
Zero stared at him blankly.  
Tou-san waited for a few moments; then his head snapped up. "What's wrong with you?!" he shouted, his voice trembling with emotion. "Did you not hear what I said?! Ichiru is dead!"  
"And I suppose…" Zero said quietly, "you'll be going to hunt down the murderers?"  
The anger faded slowly from Tou-san's face. "…Yes. Those despicable vampires will all be dead by morning. I swear to you, Zero."  
"Don't," his son told him dispassionately. "If you can't find them or if you fail or if you don't kill them at all…then you would become a liar."  
Tou-san stood, looking down at him as though unable to find words to reply with. "Alright," he agreed finally, turning towards the door.  
"Tou-san," Zero called out, his voice hardly a whisper.  
His father paused, glancing over his shoulder questioningly.  
Zero smiled- and the expression was rusted, broken; it was a once living thing now dead and hollow with hate. "Thank you," he murmured. "You've given me something to hate…other than myself."  
Tou-san's brow furrowed. "What are you saying, Zero?"  
"The murderers," the eldest Kiryuu twin clarified, throwing himself back down to the bed. "Instead of hating myself for ruining Ichiru's life, I can hate the murderers. I can hate them…to death."  
"Like I told you before," Tou-san reaffirmed, quickly looking away from his son, "they'll be dead before morning." He slipped out of the room then, running away from the twisted, hateful and wild-eyed accusation just barely visible on Zero's face.

o0O0o

It was always there, burning inside of him. It gnawed at his heart with dull teeth, slowly tearing open wounds that bled internally and filled his mind with the terminal pain. Day by day by day, it devoured him, sabotaging the sincerity of his smiles and deadening his eyes. It tormented him in his sleep and tortured him in waking. It was always there, walking at his side, filling his limbs with frailty and living within the disappointed glances of everyone who expected more of him.  
Useless.  
He was bitter. He was despairing. He could never do anything they wanted and what he could do was nothing. It was all Zero's fault for stealing his strength but in the end, no one ever blamed Zero. Only Zero blamed Zero- and secretly, only Ichiru with him. The younger twin could not escape the comparison and he could not escape his powerlessness. He would always be useless, helpless and unwanted. He would always be trash.  
Until he was eaten away by the hatred, the hunger and the despair.

"Ichiru, wake up…Wake up, you silly child. Will you sleep all night?"  
Ichiru slowly opened his eyes, the soft, velvety voice coaxing him from his dreams. A soft wind was playing through his hair, the crisp scent of night air filling his lungs. His head rested on something warm with the texture of silk, his body lying on hard stone. His gaze, pointed directly above him, was met with the stare of piercing, cherry blossom eyes.  
He quickly sat up, the memories of that day slamming into him like a hammer. For a moment, he stared frozen off at the midnight-black sky, its endless expanse bejeweled in a million stars and illuminated with the pale, full moon. Tall trees rose up from the ground, their powerful branches adorned in autumn leaves. A tall wall of brick stretched as far as he could see to the east and west. For a moment, he thought the fragrance of sakura blossoms hung around him but with the next breath of wind, it vanished once more. He had absolutely no inkling of where he was- how he had gotten there, however, he thought he knew.  
Slowly, his body tense, he turned to meet Hiou Shizuka's gaze.  
"Did you sleep well?" she asked pleasantly from where she knelt on the ground beside him; his head had been resting on her lap.  
The casual question was not the easiest to answer; he had a sense that her eyes were assessing him. It was an unnerving feeling- but then again, there was not a single thing about the situation that wasn't unnerving. He had nothing now. He was no one but a slave, trash to his old life and dead to all who knew him. There was only this inhumanly beautiful creature before him and her grip on his life. In answer to her question, he slowly nodded.  
"What were you dreaming of?" she prompted. Her tone was unhurried. She rested leisurely on the cool cobblestone as though it were the most comfortable sitting room, as if she had no where to go for another thousand years.  
"Nothing," he breathed out in response, shaking his head. "I dreamt nothing."  
She stared at him, tilting her head slightly to one side. "Is that so? How peculiar...You certainly seemed to be dreaming." She assumed a musing expression, turning her gaze impassively to the stars above. "Is Ichiru lying to me, I wonder…?"  
"There might have been," Ichiru quickly spoke up, "a few memories I recalled in my sleep. It was nothing solid however. I'm sorry." There was no point in making her the slightest bit angry with him. She seemed eccentric, unpredictable, and he could only hope that her current, peaceful demeanor would last. This woman had been all sly smiles and slaughtering, telekinetic power the day before. Did he want to bring her back to that? Not even a little bit.  
"I see," she murmured, glancing at him once more. Her eyes narrowed. "Good. You realized just from those words that I detest being lied to."  
He resisted the urge to shrink away from her. She was very subtle, he noted. That only made her more dangerous. What would she have done had he continued to deny the truth? He had to be careful- very careful.  
He considered his next words, though in haste, before speaking. "I meant no offense, Hiou-sama," he explained, doing his utmost to appear humble.  
The respectful honorific could not possibly be a bad addition; according to the terms of her deal, she was his master now. He wanted her to know he respected her- he completely, without the slightest misgiving, respected her. Anyone who could blow people to bloody fragments of flesh with their mind was worth his respect a hundred times over.  
The pureblood vampire smiled, the small curve of her lips displaying her amusement. "I see," was all she said. Gracefully, she rose to her feet. "We have lingered here long enough," she told him softly. "Follow me."  
"I understand," he nodded, hastening to obey.  
She walked without making a sound, the cool breeze stirring her silver hair and the long sleeves of her kimono. Moonlight glistened subtly on the silk. Surrounded by the velvet darkness of the night, she was an unwavering presence of white. Ichiru stared at her back blankly.  
"You are strangely quiet," she told him, her voice soft.  
"Would you like me to talk?" he asked, swallowing a lump in his throat. With no idea of what she expected of him, he could only be on edge.  
"I was under the impression that most children your age would be full of questions by now," she replied, absently running her fingers through her hair as she walked. "You do not know where you are. You do not know the nature of your fate. Would you not care to learn it?" The question was rhetorical; she spoke as if musing to herself. "Not that I have ever spent a long period of time with young boys."  
"I would like to know," Ichiru murmured. "If you don't mind my asking, that is."  
She was silent for a moment. "You could ask but I do not know either- not the answer to either of those questions. While looking for the perfect place, I completely lost track of which continent we were on." She let out a low breath of flat laughter. "As for the other, I can hardly predict my own impulsive actions, can I? I never even planned out making a deal with you much less what I would do once you were my possession. I only know that I will most certainly think of something."  
What a disturbing response. Ichiru's brow furrowed; there almost seemed to be something wrong with her voice, something pained. He was too tense to comment on it however, so he followed her wordlessly. They walked down the cobblestone road, turning a corner around a few tall oaks. Before them was a tall house of five stories. Its architecture was old and did not seem of Asian origin at all. Were they no longer in Japan? Ichiru stared at the lonely mansion, feeling more and more lost with each step he took.  
"It really is the perfect place," Hiou Shizuka told him absently. "There is not a town nearby for miles, no other vampires to contend with and the books within seem interesting. There was too much dust, of course- that is why we waited outside. It should be somewhat better now."  
Reaching the front door, she opened it and ushered him inside ahead of her. The interior of the grand house opened with a large hall that lead to a wide staircase. The floor was marble and the entire room was awash with shadows, the full moon's light flooding in through tall windows to both sides. The carpet on the staircase and the window curtains were moth-eaten and rotting but the floors were quite clean. A few ancient tables were placed sparsely along the walls, empty and unstable. The lonely house almost had a spooky air to it but Ichiru knew that the scariest possible thing within had just entered right after him. Correspondingly, he was only too happy to step further into the house and away from the pureblood vampire.  
She looked around with an impassive expression. "I am glad there are so many windows," she said. "Shall we look around? Would you like that?"  
"Who cleaned the floors?" he asked, the question spilling from his lips.  
"I asked a few obliging individuals to do it for me," she answered patiently. "They have been at it for several hours."  
Ichiru stared at the vast expanse of marble. "Surely it would take longer…" he commented in awe.  
"Vampire thralls are quick creatures," she assured him. "It is within their capabilities."  
So they were thralls. Ichiru thought it was clever the way she had said 'I asked them'. In truth, he could well imagine the way she had sunk her fangs into innocent human necks and commanded them to do her bidding. The Association of Hunters would have something to say about such practices. Only the most powerful hunters in the Association however, would dare to even address a pureblood; Ichiru highly doubted that any of those individuals were around.  
Shizuka released a low sigh and again Ichiru perceived a dangerous depression in her. When he had first met her, she had been all sly smiles and misleading words; now there were shadows in her eyes. Her own admittance of her capricious nature combined with her mood now made him long to be anywhere but in her presence.  
Then again, perhaps he should not waste so much thought over his own safety. Useless trash like him was already dead as it was. He lived at her whim at this point. If he could get himself to recognize that fact, he would not spend so much time being afraid.  
"You're watching me," Shizuka said suddenly, her eyes veiled by dark lashes as they gleamed in the moonlight. "What are you thinking of?"  
He almost said 'nothing' but remembered just in time her past reaction to such an answer. "I was…" he faltered, "just trying to figure out how to act."  
"Is that so?" she replied, her gaze boring into his face. "Should you act any differently than before?"  
"You seem to be…" He was cornered. "You seem to be in a different mood. That's all."  
"Ah, I see." She closed her eyes for a moment, a bitter smile curving on her lips. "Yes, I am in ill spirits, I suppose. Staring at your face while you slept left me somewhat distraught." She regarded him again, the smile vanishing. "You look very much like your father, don't you?"  
She took a step closer to him and then drew closer again, reaching out with one hand. He had to remind himself that retreating would not change a thing, that stepping back was pointless- even with the words screaming in his head, it was all he could do to just stand there.  
"Silver hair," she murmured, her eyes distant as she ran her fingers through his hair. Her touch was warm; it surprised him. With her pale skin and white kimono, she almost looked to be made of snow- like a winter apparition. "Your mother has these amethyst eyes…right?" Her fingers trailed across his face to pause just below his left eye.  
"She does," he breathed out, his voice echoing in the wide hall. The fading whispers of his words lingered for a moment as Shizuka stared at him.  
"Sou, ne?" she nodded as if confirming a memory. "These eyes are very brave, very resourceful. Hunters are so resourceful, finding all these ways to kill vampires…Watching you in that school was like watching a wounded hero in a labyrinth, struggling to find his way to freedom. And you are, like your parents, very beautiful too. Hunters drank of vampire blood many centuries ago and now tend to inherit our beauty- along with our curse." She placed the tip of her forefinger against his throat. "Your strength was devoured."  
Ichiru did not dare to move much less respond. If she was only a weaker vampire, even a noble perhaps, his mind would be supplying endless different methods for him to flee. He was only coming up blank and his neck was being touched by a vampire he could not possibly escape- a vampire he was not supposed to escape. This was death, his punishment for being useless all of his life. This was exactly what his parents had wanted- that he sacrifice himself for Zero's future. If he wasn't so petrified, he would sink to the ground and laugh.  
"How strange that it would be Kiryuu Saika and Kiryuu Akihiro to have such fascinating children," Shizuka mused on.  
Ichiru stared at her mouth; the way her lips shaped the names of his parents was sharp. Realization hit him. "You hate them," he stated.  
"Good," she praised. She smiled. "You are perceptive."  
Then her arms were around him, silk shrouded and inescapable as she drew him to her. He froze, his posture becoming rigid. His instincts screamed at him- to struggle, to break away, to flee. Her fingers twisted in his hair, effortlessly forcing his head back. A warm breath from her lips fell on his neck and he drew a sharp breath, his eyes widening. She was going to…  
"Hiou-sama…?" he whispered, hardly able to make his voice audible. Her tongue ran lightly across his throat and he jerked in her embrace, his pounding heart filling the silence with its sporadic beat. "Hiou-sama!" he cried, louder this time, "let go of me! Let go!" His struggles were useless, no matter how wild they became when the points of her fangs touched his skin. He shut his eyes tightly, hands clenched into fists at his sides, panicked breaths tearing wildly from his throat.  
Her first laugh was a soft breath in his ear. Then she began to chuckle, drawing away and placing the back of her hand against her mouth to stifle her laughter. There was an indulgent smile on her face as she shook with quiet mirth. Ichiru stared at her blankly, shaking, his face devoid of color.  
"Adorable," Shizuka praised him, her cherry blossom eyes still shining with light-hearted and incongruous amusement. "Frightening you is surprisingly entertaining; I no longer feel grief-stricken at all." She spoke the words like a compliment- or a manner of thanks. She smiled sweetly as though her joke had not been a threat to his very humanity- a near spell of living death. That went on for a few moments, she laughing to herself and he tensely watching to see if she would snap and lunge forward again to kill him.  
He decided right then that she was hopelessly, undeniably insane.  
"Hmm," she mused to herself, strolling a few paces from him and staring up at the ceiling. "I should punish you however, for issuing orders like that. 'Let go'? Even if you are frightened…you mustn't speak to me in such a way."  
"Gomenasai," he apologized, his voice still slightly shaky.  
"That's fine then," she dismissed graciously. "I will forgive you because you are so cute. Be cautious though; the next time, I will give you cause to regret it."  
"I understand," he nodded quickly, letting his eyes dart around the room in spite of himself. Was there really no way to get away from her?  
He could imagine going home. Even if he ended up dying, he would have a terribly fun time of it, right? He would throw open the door and shout 'Tadaima!' at the top of his lungs. Then he would sit down with his family and cheerfully asking why they were looking at him in shock. Then he and Zero would grab the nearest sharp implements and do their utmost to benefit the world by ridding it of their parents.  
He let out a low breath, shaking away the foolish concept. How many impossible feats could he add to his ridiculous dreams? All he had to do to go home was escape a mad pureblood vampire. All he had to do to kill his parents was murder them before they murdered him first. All he had to do to keep living was survive.  
Shizuka drew a sharp breath and turned, causing Ichiru to start. She was smiling however, when she faced him. "Ah…it's time," she announced softly. "I thought those two would be all night but it seems they took less time than that." A sly look crossed her face. "Come here, Ichiru. You want to see something interesting, don't you?" She beckoned conspiratorially with one slender hand.  
In truth, he did not want to. He would be happy with never seeing anything interesting again his entire life if he could flee her presence that instant. On the other hand, he had a feeling that her question was more of a command and his wishes had little to do with it. Slowly, with feet that felt like lead, he approached her.  
"A shadow I cast is watching them," she told him, wrapping an arm lightly around his shoulders and leaning close. "You know what that is, don't you?"  
"A vampire's shadow?" he repeated tensely. "Yes. Those are beings made from a vampire's power- their eyes can be used to observe things far away."  
"Sou yo," she affirmed, sounding pleased. "My new pet is a clever boy. Saa, I will show you the view through my shadow's eyes. We will look together."  
Her gentle hands covered his eyes, her touch smooth and warm- as though she did not possess the ability to crush and rend flesh from bone with the slightest shift of her fingers. His sight obscured, he could only stand motionless. The scent of sakura blossoms hung about her.  
Then a vision filled his mind, swimming into place before his gaze as though his own eyes were seeing it. The image did not falter; what ever eyes beheld it had no need to blink. Red rimmed the edges of the new unnatural sight, adding to the alien sensation of looking through it. None of those things truly registered in Ichiru's mind, however. Before him stood his parents- the people who had tried to murder him; that fact stole all other thoughts away.  
It was night- though it seemed to Ichiru that the sun would soon rise. His parents were in Japan, of course- where else would they be? The time difference was evident in brightening line of gold to the east. Tall trees, darkened in the shadows, surrounded them like silent, motionless golems. From one of these trees, Ichiru and Shizuka looked down, staring at the scene below.  
Kaa-san and Tou-san stood side by side, their backs to the spectators. Approaching them was Asano, her expression impassive as she walked. She stopped a few paces away, meeting their gaze.  
"You have received word, of course," she addressed them, her voice low but harsh as the moon rose. "It was done."  
"Yes." Kaa-san was the first to speak, her tone cold. "We heard just this afternoon. The report mentioned some oddities, however- oddities that should not have occurred. Why was there evidence of explosions in a hallway and in the school cafeteria? Why did you tear the boy into shreds rather than leaving his body intact? We specified the conditions we wanted! Your group is professional, is it not?"  
"The reason is simple, Kiryuu-san," Asano replied crisply. "Your helpless boy killed two of my fellows with explosives- hence the hall and the cafeteria. Tearing his body apart was the fate he deserved after such."  
There was a long silence, heavy with surprise and tension both. Tou-san finally broke it, his voice faltering. "What…I'm sorry, would you repeat that? He…killed two of you?"  
"Yes," affirmed Asano shortly. "He did."  
"That's impossible," whispered Kaa-san shakily. She repeated herself, more firmly this time. "That's impossible. A lie."  
"Believe whatever you wish," Asano dismissed sharply. "We will require compensation for our losses regardless. Your hunter brat has severely damaged our group and organization- I want double the fee."  
"Double," Kaa-san echoed blankly. "Wait, how exactly did Ichiru do it? Level C's…he could never kill two level C's. The boy could not fight at all!"  
"I told you already, Kiryuu-san," Asano said flatly, "he blew them up. From the actions he took, I can only assume that he created explosives from chemicals around the school. He sensed our presence soon after entering the building and set to making them at once."  
"I…" Kaa-san let out a shaky breath and covered her eyes. "Yes, he was intelligent. Of course…he was intelligent. I must have forgotten."  
"Our fee?" Asano prompted. "The two other survivors of this little job are laying low at the moment but they will return with me if you cannot provide the amount right now. If you linger too long, we can expose your secret- that a pair of hunters consorted with vampires to have their own son murdered!"  
"There was no other way, you filthy beast!" Tou-san shouted, his voice ringing through the quiet night. "We had to do it- for Zero!"  
"Whatever, I don't care," Asano scoffed, raising her hands in front of her. "Pardon me if the lowly vampires words upset your unquestionably noble sensibilities. All I care about is the money." She blinked, sucking in a sharp breath as she realized that Kaa-san was no longer standing beside Tou-san. When a sharp wire twisted about her throat, she scrabbled at it with frantic fingers, blood appearing on her neck even as it flushed her cheeks.  
"When your fellows miss you, they can come ask us about your whereabouts personally," Kaa-san breathed in Asano's ear. "We will give them the same message."  
A gurgle escaped Asano's lips, her eyes becoming glassy as she stared at the sky. The tension in Kaa-san's fingers loosened; the hunter woman let her vampiric prey slip to the ground limply.  
"Death…" Asano's lips moved, her voice suddenly hollow as her expression was blank. "But I would have died anyway, hunter. That white queen…has you…" Her words faltered and she dissolved into ash, her clothes crumpling without a body to fill them.  
Kaa-san let out a low breath. "What did that mean?" she asked her husband quietly. "What the hell did any of this mean?"  
Tou-san closed the distance between them, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Don't think about it, Saika," he assured her soothingly though his own tone was troubled. "We have Zero to think about."  
Ichiru watched them blankly, staring at the loathsome lines of their faces. He hated them. Then again, were they so different from anyone else he had met? The world was ugly and no one who had seen both him and Zero had ever chosen him over his twin. If only it could all disappear.  
As if in response to that thought, the vision dissolved and he looked to see Shizuka's hands falling away from his eyes.  
"Ara," the pureblood vampire murmured, "I was not expecting that death confession from Asano. How dramatic." When he said nothing in response, she lightly grasped his chin and turned his head towards her. "Ne, what is your reaction?" she inquired, her eyes veiled by dark lashes as she regarded him.  
"I wish they were dead," he told her tonelessly.  
She laughed in delight. "Patience, dear child. The best things are worth waiting for." She straightened, releasing him. "What shall we do now…? The night is long and because you just slept, you cannot possibly be tired. Shall we explore this house, perhaps…? Shall we search for the library?"

o0O0o

The first few days of living with Hiou Shizuka were hardly difficult at all.  
She took him around the ancient house, opening doors, peering around as if the decrepit mansion was a treasure trove of things to discover. She commented pleasantly on the dusty paintings, expressed muted delight over the large windows and wandered up and down the staircases with aimless, silent footsteps. Ichiru had followed in her wake and half the time, she seemed to completely forget he was there. Whenever she noticed him, she would give him the same curious look she gave the house, peering into his eyes or grasping his chin so she could analyze his expression. Other times, she carried on a one sided conversation with him- perhaps to tell him a story of a library much like the one they were in or perhaps to chastise him for walking too loudly. The stories, Ichiru could not help but find fascinating; the ridicule, he could not help but be petrified by. His theory that his new 'master' was completely out of her mind had only grown more solid with each hour.  
After she lost interest in exploring the house, she told him that if he grew hungry, he should go to the kitchen and tell a thrall what he wanted. He should also watch out for rotten floors upstairs and he could not leave the house. Other than that, she said, she had not a care as to what he did.  
It was with great relief that he escaped her presence and he found things to be exactly as she had said. The 'thrall' he found in the kitchen was a blank-eyed man dressed in black and without a doubt, not Asian at all. Still, the man spoke to him in Japanese, asking tonelessly for orders. Ichiru asked for rice and miso soup, watching with distant amazement as the thrall disappeared and reappeared later with ingredients to cook the requested meal. Ichiru asked where the man had gotten them but his only answer was a vacant stare. Unnerving as it was, the food was completely fine.  
He wandered around the rest of the night, finally watching as the sun rose to tint the morning sky. He would never wake up in his room again nor in Zero's room with his twin sleeping next to him. He would never see his parents looking pityingly at him when they thought he would not notice. He would never see Zero again; that fact alone was what threw him so off balance. A life without Zero was so…free. Ichiru was a slave now, chained by oath to a pureblood vampire- but as Zero's younger brother, he had been chained by powerlessness. He had been nothing at all. He told himself his future was brighter and tried not to think about it more than that.  
The house was quite enormous and after falling asleep on a sheet-covered sofa, he woke the next day to wander some more. Walking down the lonely corridors, he tried to map out the floor plan in his head- if only to keep from getting lost. The fact that it hardly mattered which room was where was little help. The only place he needed regularly was the kitchen and the only place he needed to avoid was the library- from the way Shizuka had repeatedly expressed interest in that room, avoiding it was the best way to avoid her.  
The next day was the same and the next- he grew accustomed to the solitude and even felt somewhat safe. His peaceful days were numbered however.  
It began the morning he discovered a piano.  
He had finally made his way to the eastern wing of the house, treading through upstairs rooms and jumping holes in the wooden floors. The sun was shining wanly through the unshuttered windows, struggling through the choking blanket of chill, autumn clouds. It's glow stained the old woods with feeble light and made a mockery of the faded curtains. It felt like wandering through a ruined world; it suited Ichiru's state of mind perfectly.  
The piano stood in one corner of a small sitting room, its keys yellowed with age. It was free of dust, however and when Ichiru tapped its keys, he found that it was well in tune also. Shizuka's thralls had done their work well. Ichiru sat down at the bench to play.  
The melancholy of the past few days disappeared as simply as that. In this surreal and bizarre situation, discovering a piano was like finding a precious friend he could identify with. He drew a low breath, placing his hands on the timeless instrument; then he cut away the silence with its music.  
Of the pieces he had memorized, most were his own compositions but the notes that flowed from his fingers were as clear as if he had written music in front of him. A deep, resonant sound bolstered the melody, making the slow song endlessly full of emotion. This piano was not the cheap device of a practicing student; this was a priceless instrument, forgotten and abandoned to neglect. It had a voice- and Ichiru delivered to it words to speak. The resulting music was rich with peace, turned bittersweet with loneliness.  
When he let the dulcet tones fade back into the quiet, he paused for a moment. He had been lost in his playing but gradually, as his mind returned to reality, he felt as though he was being watched. Tensely, he glanced over his shoulder, half-certain that his paranoia would be met by nothing but empty walls.  
Cherry blossom eyes met his gaze, boring through his skull with such penetrating force that he nearly jumped out of his skin. Shizuka stood in the middle of the room a few paces away, completely still as she regarded him. Her expression was unreadable.  
"Hiou-sama…" he faltered. "Sorry- I didn't notice you. Is there something you want me to do?" It was somewhat of a surprise to see her, even without the added shock of not hearing her come in at all. She had been gone from his life for several days- almost like a bad dream, haunting his memory only distantly. Now she was watching him and her presence was very real indeed. He could not forget about someone who existed right before his eyes.  
"Sou," she answered his question, her voice soft but ambiguous. "I want you to play that song again."  
He froze, caught off guard by the request. With her staring at him, he was not sure his fingers could even find the right keys. He swallowed, nervousness making his face pale. What would she do if he messed up?  
More importantly, what would she do if he hesitated too long?  
"I understand," he acquiesced. Somehow, he managed to conjure up the song again, biting his lower lip as he eased it again into the air. He felt tense but the music bled away his fear, drawing his mind into a sanctuary of notes and tones. It felt less natural this time- his fingers falling with rigid precision onto the keys- but the piano did the song justice once more despite his mechanical playing. He completed line after line of notes, envisioning the next set carefully in his mind. As he neared the end of the song, a movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Shizuka was standing directly behind him, leaning over his shoulder to peer with interest at the keys. He had not heard her move; he had not noticed her standing there until she had shifted closer.  
He jumped and the song came to an awkward stop, ending on a dissonant note. He froze, cursing his edginess. She could do whatever she wanted regardless of how quick his reflexes were; if she suddenly came close and he flinched away, he was only hastening his eminent doom. Messing up a direct order from her because of that reaction might have made his eminent doom immediate.  
"Ara, did I scare you?" Shizuka inquired mildly, looking down at him without drawing back.  
"Yes," he said quietly, hardly daring to raise his voice. "Gomenasai."  
"Peculiar," she mused lightly, stepping back and turning away from him. "You were so much braver facing those commoners; you were certain to die in that situation so why are you frightened now?"  
"Those commoners wanted to kill me," Ichiru answered, finding himself speaking the truth simply because she hated lies. "Even if I was doomed to die painfully, at least it would be over quickly." He let out a low breath. "I have no idea what you will do."  
Shizuka laughed, her soft voice more like an element of silence than like noise. "So it is more frightening to live than to die? And what if you live forever, suffering every day…how very much more frightening would that be, Ichiru?"  
"Much more," he answered cautiously.  
"Yes…yes, you are right," she said in agreement, almost to herself. He turned in his seat at the piano bench to see her face; her expression was troubled. "I like your playing," she told him suddenly. "I was in the library and heard you; the sound struck me…perhaps I am too used to silence."  
He did not know what to say in reply so he waited for her to speak again. She took her time of it, not seeming to mind the break in their conversation. She crossed the room to stand beside a window, staring outside with distant eyes.  
"Ichiru," she said suddenly, her voice soft. "You are in danger."  
He tensed, unsure what to make of the ominous words. Was this her way of telling him to start running? Or perhaps to prepare for death? He was not sure why playing a song on the piano warranted brutal murder by a pureblood vampire but logicality hardly seemed to matter to Shizuka. "What do you mean?" he asked her finally.  
"Your playing has pleased me so I decided to give you a warning," she explained with the air of someone doing him a great service. "There are four vampire thralls hunting you at this very moment and if you do not prepare yourself, you could become severely injured."  
"Thralls?" he echoed sharply. "They are your servants then, Hiou-sama?"  
"Sou," she affirmed absently, still staring out the window. "I ordered them to attack you."  
"Why?" he breathed, staring at her in bewildered horror.  
"It seemed like an interesting thing to do," she answered simply. "You are here for my entertainment, after all."  
He could not believe this. She was mad. She would be the death of him. How could he have even the slightest hope of survival if she toyed with his life on a whim? There was no point to any of it! If he died…there would be absolutely no point.  
"Ah, one of them is nearly here now," she murmured. "Should you not be doing something to save yourself?"  
"I…" he faltered, off balance and feeling nearly hopeless enough to sink to the ground in suicidal despair.  
"If you do not move quickly, I will be obligated to make the game more interesting," she told him seriously, "lest I become bored."  
His eyes narrowed and he gritted his teeth, meeting her eyes directly. "As you wish," he bit out, hating her. "I will not die. At the end of this, you will have four thralls less!"  
"Truly?" she asked, a delighted smile on her lips and fascination in her eyes.  
Without granting her a reply, he drew a low breath and stalked out of the room. He had some hunting to do.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two: Taint

The floorboards gave out with a splintering crash, the rotten wood snapping and plummeting down thirty feet to the next story of the old mansion. Ichiru stumbled, catching himself on a nearby table a mere foot from hole's edge. If his heart had not already been pounding madly from the strain and tension of the hunt, it most certainly was now. He released a harsh breath as the tiny chunks of wood and dust continued to fall and fill the room with a gravelly sighing sound. Closing his eyes for a moment, he swallowed before finally finding the will to straighten.  
He was dead tired and it was not even noon yet. His muscles ached, dizziness made his vision swim and his heart seemed to beat bruises around his ribcage. The third thrall had left several gashes here and there on his side and shoulder- luckily shallow as it went but still painful and bleeding steadily. Ichiru smiled grimly, feeling as if he had aged years in the past few days. He felt good to be honest. He felt so good.  
He had killed three of Shizuka's thralls and two commoner vampires. It was, perhaps, a pitiful record for a hunter but for a child of eleven, for a frail boy who had only ever disappointed his parents, it was more than he had ever hoped to achieve. That pride filled him with a burning sort of determination that made his weary limbs move onward. His fingers tightened around the fire poker he had been using as a makeshift weapon. He was not dead yet and he was not going to die. The completely insane pureblood vampire with her claws around his life would have to throw more at him than this.  
Ichiru carefully edged around the hole, his shoes grinding dust from his latest kill into the moth-eaten carpet. Was that a ballroom down there? he wondered, peering downstairs and fighting a wave of vertigo. The ceiling of the lower room was high, making the hole three times as dangerous. He rolled his eyes, wanting from the bottom of his heart to blame Shizuka for the collapse of the floorboards too but unable to relate her to the incident. She had even warned him about it.  
With that fascinating recollection aside, he had one last thrall to hunt down. He slipped out of the shadowy room into the hallway- which was brighter due to the many windows lining its outward facing wall. He did not expect to have much time what with the scent of his blood alerting all vampires to his location. Still, his senses could not detect the thrall approaching. He wandered down the hallway, straining his abilities to find the level D and hoping Shizuka would let him pass out after the ordeal was over with.  
The attack came without warning when a closet door barreled open as he passed by. The thrall was a young woman in her twenties, her red eyes blank and her mouth gaping open in hunger as her body slammed into Ichiru's. The collision sent them both into the hallway wall, the vampire immediately slashing out with claw-like nails at the boy's torso. Still jarred from the ambush, Ichiru only scarcely managed to curl away from the attack which scored down his back instead. Swallowing a cry of pain, he jabbed one elbow into the thrall's stomach and staggered away from her as she doubled over. She was only delayed for a brief second before lunging at him again. He raised the fire poker just in time.  
If his opponent had been anything but a mindless servant, he would have been dead four times already. Ichiru was well aware that fighting a creature that did not care to defend itself was much simpler than fighting one that would block and dodge and use tactics. This fact was obvious as the thrall impaled herself without a thought on the fire poker, the rusty metal piercing through her stomach with the power of her lunge and making Ichiru stumble. As blood began to seep rapidly out to soak her shirt, she fell against the wall and the poker was ripped from Ichiru's hands. He turned and ran, knowing that the minor wound would not slow her for long.  
What was strange was the ambush. All of the other thralls had been easy to find, walking about in search of him with single-minded focus. He had sensed them, lured them after him and brought them down in a room of his choice. This one's aura had been cloaked.  
That meant Shizuka had cloaked it.  
Ichiru gritted his teeth, his mind hastily throwing together a plan as the thrall snarled and gave chase. He had not been hunting down four mindless thralls; he had been playing a game of tactics with Shizuka. She had set the board and let him face each piece one by one. Even the simplicity of defeating the others had been part of the pureblood's strategy. It had worked; he had gotten drunk on pride instead of suspecting an ambush.  
Dashing into the room with the broken floorboards, Ichiru whirled around as the thrall came speeding after him. The fire poker was still sticking out of her, her eyes blazing red and her fangs bared. She crouched low at the door, incomprehensible growls leaving her throat. Perhaps she had been a kind woman once. Ichiru braced himself.  
She sprang at him, hands extended. He raised his arms to meet her, catching her shoulders and spinning around with all of his strength to shove her towards the hole. It would have worked perfectly had she not managed to snatch his wrist as she fell.  
Dragged abruptly downwards, Ichiru desperately fought for a handhold. His nails scraped across the jagged flooring, fingers barely managing to fist in a scrap of old carpet. His descent slowed but the thrall's didn't. Her grip on his wrist slipped and she frantically grabbed at his legs, nails raking down his skin as she fell. Ichiru yelled in pain, raising one foot and slamming it into her head. She released him, crashing down thirty feet to the room below.  
He gasped, his muscles screaming from the strain of holding himself up. He was now dangling from the hole, looking up into the shadowy room of before. His legs kicked in the thin air as he frantically wondered if the fall from this height would kill him- if it had killed the thrall. He managed to catch a hold of the edge with his other hand but finding the strength to pull himself up was impossible.  
His vision blurred, nausea churning in his stomach. He closed his eyes, trying to slow his panicked breaths. If he passed out like this, he would never even have a chance to find out if the fall would kill him. Droplets of blood slid down his legs and pain stung in his side. As darkness filled his eyesight, he blinked furiously. Why had he been born so frail? he cursed himself. If he was Zero, he would be able to pull himself up.  
"The thrall died," Shizuka told him conversationally, appearing from the room above to regard him through the hole.  
"Great," he gasped out, concentrating on her face with all his might. He had half a thought not to ask for her help. She wasn't going to give it. She was going to watch him die because this was her 'entertainment'. Asking for her help was pointless and would thus only make his end more pathetic.  
His sweating hands slipped a few inches, the carpet threatening to tear.  
"Please pull me up," he entreated in one breath. His arms hurt unbearably but he was almost too dizzy to feel it.  
"What will you give me if I pull you up?" she wanted to know.  
The frustration kept him conscious. "Anything!" he exclaimed in vexation.  
"Didn't you already promise to give me anything, Ichiru?" she laughed, kneeling down beside the hole.  
"Yes," he breathed out through gritted teeth, "and I won't be able to give you anything ever again if I fall!" His fingers slipped again. He gave up trying to look at her, shutting his eyes tightly. He was going to fall. She was going to let him fall. "Hiou-sama!" He lost his hold on the floorboards.  
Her hand shot out so fast that he never saw her move, her fingers locking firmly around his wrist. It was effortless for her. She held him suspended as if he weighed no more than a feather. Not yet giving into relief, he opened his eyes. Her gaze was intense, piercing through him.  
"Forcing your master to save you is not easily forgivable," she told him lowly. "Next time, you will survive without my help or you will die. Do you understand?"  
He expelled a thankful breath- his gratitude was either for her or for whatever being existed to watch over him. Neither seemed particularly merciful but he was not ready to die. "Hai," he affirmed, his fingers weakly curling around her wrist.  
Frowning as if highly disappointed by the turn of events, she stood and pulled him up from the hole in the same motion. When she set him on his feet, he collapsed in a heap, scarcely able to hold his head up to look at her.  
"How boring if you faint every time I play with you…" she murmured in bemusement, looking down at him. "You owe me, Ichiru- again. I will most certainly cash in this debt."  
It was the last thing he heard before losing consciousness.

o0O0o

When he woke up, his body ached and his mouth tasted like blood. For a few minutes, he simply lay still without opening his eyes. It was somewhat strange to realize that he was still alive. He confirmed that fact with distant relief. It was stranger to realize he was lying in a clean, soft bed- minus the ridiculously powerful and insane pureblood lap pillow this time.  
Opening his eyes would mean it was time to pay back his new debt to Shizuka. He procrastinated a minute more, taking his time to revel in the lack of pain.  
He drew a low breath and sat up, taking in the shadowy room with bleary eyes. Darkness hung in layers around him, the sun having long set and a unrelenting gloom obscuring his vision. It was difficult to ascertain what sort of room he was in but he doubted he had been there before. Obviously, it was a place the thralls had already refurbished. The sheets were pristine and carried the faint scent of flowers.  
Another thing he noticed upon waking was that his injuries were gone. His muscles were still stiff, his arms protesting in a series of painful twinges from the strain they had undergone. The gashes on his side, shoulder and legs were completely gone however. Running his fingers across them, he could not even feel a scar. Had Shizuka used her powers to heal them then? He seriously hoped she would not consider him indebted for that 'favor' too.  
The sound of sheets tearing directly beside him made him jump and he hastily scrambled out of the bed. His eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness and caught the movement of someone sleeping on the other side of the bed. A slender wrist arced through the shadows, fingers curling to blindly lash out at the bedding once more. Ichiru swallowed, his heart pounding. Where was the door?  
Trying very hard to be quiet, he crept through the room in search of the exit. There seemed to be an unfairly numerous amount of obstructions to bump into and trip over. He tried not to think about what had been in the bed beside him or how lucky he was to have moved before he shared the pillow's fate. It would be just like Shizuka to tuck a ravenous level E in next to him just for the sick amusement of it. He heard a weary moan from the direction of the bed and cringed, fumbling through the dark with renewed haste.  
"Ugh…that was only a pillow…"  
He blinked, freezing in place. That was Shizuka's voice. Dumbfounded, he remained unmoving as he heard her yawn and stir. A few tense moments passed.  
"I can hear your heart pounding," she said lowly, shattering the silence even with her soft voice. "You're feeling well then?"  
He swallowed, trying to make his voice work. "Ah, yes…you healed all of my wounds so- thank you, Hiou-sama."  
"You were bleeding everywhere," she explained sleepily. "Don't fret about this morning; I was only pretending to be angry. You are hilarious when you're frightened."  
"Is…that so?" he asked awkwardly, finally spotting the door a few paces away.  
"Sou," she affirmed with a tired sigh. "Get me a new pillow, Ichiru. I had a bad dream about someone I hate and accidentally destroyed this one."  
"Yes, of course," he said quickly. "Right away!" Gratefully, he staggered forward and snatched open the door. Hastily exiting the bedroom, he stepped into a moonlit hallway and closed the door behind him. Once safely away from the semi-conscious pureblood, he expelled a sigh of relief, his shoulders slumping. What the hell had that been about?  
Running a hand through his hair, he shook his head. At least she said she was not angry. Unless she was just pretending not to be angry to make him feel at ease. He scowled at the carpet and set off down the hall. Tonight's survival forecast was not looking good. The madwoman had already murdered an innocent pillow.  
He did manage to find one. Locating the desired object at all was an impressive feat in his opinion considering the darkness of the mansion, the fact that he had no clue where he was going and the added difficulty of nearly every room being in horrendous disrepair. Correspondingly, the pillow he discovered was slightly dusty but not too moth-eaten. It was one of the fancy, embroidered ones left on couches. It smelled like dust but hopefully Shizuka would be too tired to notice.  
When he returned, he left the door open and moonlight spilled into the darkened bedroom. Shizuka appeared to be fast asleep, her face buried in a mess of feathers and torn cloth and her hair fanned out across the sheets. Nervously, he crept up to her bedside and painstakingly placed the pillow beside her. Just as he was turning to leave, his hopes of getting out unhindered were crushed.  
"It smells like dust," she commented, sounding much more awake than before.  
"Does it?" he replied stupidly, tension in his voice.  
"Sou," she said sadly, a nostalgic note in her words. "By the way, I've thought of how you are going to repay me for saving your life." Apparently, the dust was alright. "There is a town not too far from here; you will find a road leading to it from this house's gate. Go there."  
"As you wish, Hiou-sama," he agreed, trying to mask his surprise. She was letting him leave the mansion? "What am I to do there?"  
"Find someone who is still awake and bring them back here," she requested, resting her head on the dusty pillow. "I will be awake by the time you return."  
"But why do you…" Ichiru began before trailing off in dread. He understood what she meant. He felt cold.  
"Is there a problem, Ichiru?" she asked him softly. Even in the dim light, he could see the cruel smile playing about her lips.  
"I…" How could he possibly fulfill this request? He drew a shaky breath. "I am a hunter, Hiou-sama."  
"And I am telling you to go hunt for me," she replied leisurely, enjoying every word. Her silken kimono rustled against the sheets as she stretched. "Doushita? Are you only capable of luring vampires to their deaths, Hunter-san?" She laughed maliciously, her body curling on the bed as the rich sound bubbled from her lips.  
He stood at her bedside, watching blankly as she chuckled to herself. She wanted him to bring another human being back with him for her to kill and devour. He was descended from a lineage of people all who had lived with the sole purpose of protecting the innocent from monsters. She knew that. She was asking this of him specifically because of that- a further vengeance against his kind and his parents whom she hated.  
"If you do not complete this task quickly, I will become cross with you," she sang out liltingly. "Or do you think you're safe because I am lying down?"  
Abruptly, an invisible force barreled into him and he was thrown across the room towards the door. A startled cry escaped his lips as he slammed into the doorframe, knocked wildly to one side as his body hit the floor. His shoulder seared with pain and he grit his teeth, trying to suppress the panicked breaths which threatened to tear from his throat.  
"I do not need to touch you to hurt you, child," she warned. "Now go."  
He did not need to be told again. He pulled himself to his feet, dashing out into the hallway before she decided to demonstrate her power a second time.  
The autumn air was slightly cold and its chill seemed to seep into his skin, somehow reaching through to his heart. He walked down the gravel road in silence, his shoes displacing little pebbles here and there. The tall trees growing on either side of the road cast their red-gold leaves down one by one to glide on currents of wind. Their branches whispered as they wondered how cruel the winter would be come year's end. Ichiru closed his eyes, listening to the night with weary resignation.  
He supposed he had already made his choice- in agreeing to be Shizuka's servant, he had sacrificed his entire persona and every bit of free will he possessed. Now however, he was forced to choose between self preservation and his responsibility as a hunter- as a human being. Intentionally luring someone to their death- someone he would choose and talk to- was betraying himself.  
On the other hand, hadn't he been betrayed by hunters?  
The walk only took him thirty minutes. The little town nearby was going to sleep. A clock tower somewhere chimed out eight o'clock in the evening. The signs were written in English, legible enough to a studious Japanese boy.  
Ichiru shoved his hands in his pockets, his eyes glancing over the people still awake and walking down the street. Would it be so despicable to kill one of them? He would cause another human's death because he had no choice. Perhaps by giving Shizuka his life, he had also given away all responsibility for his own actions. All that was left was to accept the taint.  
His mind immediately set to working on the problem at hand as he wandered down the lamp lit streets. Attempting escape was, of course, pointless- he was a foreigner with no money and no way of getting away from Shizuka before she came after him. If he ran into other hunters, that was a different matter- but where was he anyway? England? America? For now, he would just keep his eyes open.  
He walked through the streets for hours, watching people come and go. He was given a few strange looks and several times people approached him. Some seemed to have good intentions. Others did not. No one who came near him seemed like the sort of person Shizuka would want to eat. As hilarious as it could be, bringing home a creepy old man as her prey would likely get him murdered.  
Then again, perhaps it was all too easy for him to find reasons to leave people be.  
He was passing by a playground when someone ran up to him from behind. He tensed, ready to strike out only to realize that it was only a little girl, pulling on his sleeve. She had red hair, pale skin and freckles. She was probably only six years old. With a distraught expression, she wailed out something in English.  
He blinked. "Sorry," he said slowly in her language, "could you repeat that?"  
"I lost my doll," she said, her words more intelligible once she had slowed down. "The adults won't help."  
Ichiru released a sigh. Weren't children delicacies to vampires? "My English is not good but I'll help," he said, letting her take his hand.  
'I know where it is; follow me.' That was all he had to say. If he just said those words, Shizuka's task would most surely be completed. He could imagine her smiling at him, leaving him alone, taking the child.  
"I think it was…here." The little girl pointed at the playground. "Are you Chinese?"  
"No," he shook his head wryly. "Japanese."  
"Oh," she said. "Why is your hair white?"  
"It just is," he told her.  
"Oh," she said, then smiled. "I'm Amy, by the way."  
He returned to the mansion not long after, thoroughly frozen by the night air. He opened the front door, slipping inside to the familiar sight of the foyer. He stared into the shadows, the sound of his breathing audible in the utter silence.  
"You're alone," Shizuka observed. She was sitting on the staircase directly in front of him, a book in her hands. "The town was completely deserted, I suppose…?"  
He swallowed, meeting her gaze with all the courage he could muster. "I won't lead someone to their death, Hiou-sama. I can't."  
Her eyes narrowed. "Then you have disobeyed a direct order of mine and your debt remains unfulfilled. I can sympathize since you are unused to being my servant…but surely you understand that your actions will have consequences."  
A chill ran through him and he fought the urge to step back. The harshness in her soft voice echoed throughout the room and he could only be afraid. He had made his decision however and he was not going to regret it. Would she kill him? He did not want to die. He could not bring himself to kill an innocent person either. To think he had actually been considering it earlier…he disgusted himself.  
Shizuka stood, advancing on him with a predator's grace. The bell strung around her waist did not make a sound, her walk so smooth that not even the faintest chime gave away her presence. Steadily, she crossed the vast hall, her white kimono shining in the light of the moon. Ichiru blanched, backing up a step, feeling the door behind him.  
"You have easily killed six vampires, have you not?" the silver-haired pureblood murmured, reaching out for him as she drew nearer. "Was it because they threatened your life? Was it because they were savage monsters who deserved only death?" She closed the distance, inches away from him as she placed her hand on his cheek. "Was it because you are human and may kill all but your own kind?"  
She seemed to expect an answer but he could not give her one. He was shaking, his face white, his eyes riveted on hers. For a moment, he wished Zero was there beside him- simply because his brother always protected him- but then he cast away the thought in disgust.  
When he said nothing, Shizuka's eyes trailed over his face in quiet study. "Look how frightened you are," she murmured, expelling a low laugh, "look how helpless you are…One would never think you could do such things…" Her thumb brushed across his skin, tracing over his eyelid. She leaned closer, placing her hand under his jaw and forcing him to hold her gaze. "I will make you into a monster, Ichiru," she promised with a gentle, beautiful smile. "Darkness will taint your soul until you are twisted. Hunger will rage in your mind until you are senseless with want. You will kill- both vampires and humans, whatever I command. You will do everything I say and gladly."  
His stricken expression seemed to please her. Her eyes brightened, trailing over him once more. "Not yet, but someday," she assured him lightly. She released him and turned away. "I will give you a new task to replace the last one- since you failed at it."  
Ichiru released a shuddering breath, slumping against the door. That had been terrifying. She was terrifying. He closed his eyes. "Thank you," he whispered, simply grateful that she was no longer touching him.  
"Go and fetch me a fork," she instructed idly, waving one hand in a careless gesture. "Quickly, now."  
"A…a fork?" he repeated. What did she want a fork for?  
"Perhaps you are incapable of doing that much?" she inferred dangerously.  
"Iie," he denied, his heart skipping a beat. "I'll go get one right away. Thank you, Hiou-sama!" He dashed off up the stairs and luckily, he knew the lower levels of the mansion better than the upper levels. He found his way to the kitchen easily enough, locking his gaze on the thrall who stood blankly by the counter.  
"A fork!" he demanded desperately. "Give me a fork!"  
The thrall inclined its head, vacant eyes seeing through him as it turned and retrieved the requested item. It placed the metal utensil in Ichiru's hands before going back to scrutinizing a scratch on the wooden counter. Ichiru counted himself lucky that it had not been ordered to attack him. With the fork safely in hand, he dashed back downstairs to where Shizuka waited.  
"That was quick," she complimented him, an odd look in her eyes. "You ran the whole way?"  
"Hai," he affirmed, stopping several paces from her.  
"And you don't feel dizzy at all?" she prompted.  
He blinked. What…? "No," he answered, abruptly bewildered. "I don't."  
Her lips curved into a self-satisfied smile. "It seems to have worked," she murmured. "We won't have to worry about you fainting ever again now."  
"What worked?" he questioned before quickly adding, "if I may ask, Hiou-sama."  
"I fed you my blood as you slept," she told him, moving to stand at his side and taking his elbow. She pulled him from the room as she spoke. "Your frailty was troublesome and that was the only way to get rid of it."  
"Then…" He couldn't believe it. "I won't be sick anymore?" he breathed out. "Could I run more often? Could I fight?! Would I be…as strong as Zero?!"  
"You're delighted," she noted, pulling him closer with a low laugh. "Does that mean you are happy to be my slave now? You should thank me."  
"Arigatou gozaimasu," he whispered, his thoughts reeling. If it was true, he would never again fall ill for days with a fever. He would never pass out from too much exertion. Like any boy his age, he could run and move and live- he could become as strong as Zero…All because of Shizuka's whim, he was cured.  
The sound of a door shutting brought him out of his thoughts. She had taken him to a sitting room, the couches and armchairs recently cleaned and free of dust. He had scarcely noticed her guiding him. The fork was still in his hand.  
"Ah," he faltered, pausing for a moment then stumbling forward as her grip on his elbow pulled him with her. "The fork…you wanted it, didn't you, Hiou-sama?"  
"Sou," she said, accepting it as he handed it to her. "You did well."  
He had only fetched a fork. The praise seemed ominous.  
She released his elbow and seated herself on a divan. The fork glinted against the silk of her kimono. "Come here," she instructed benignly, patting the space beside her with one slender hand.  
Ichiru stilled, his eyes darting once around the room. "Why?" he stalled.  
"Your punishment," she explained softly, amusement glinting in her eyes as she watched him.  
"Wasn't that already…" he said, dread swimming through his veins, "you gave me a different task…"  
"I warned you about consequences, Ichiru," she reminded him. He could see the smile lurking around her lips even if he could not hear it in her voice. "Come. Do not make me wait." When he continued to stand frozen, she laughed. "You know you cannot flee. Obey me quickly, Kiryuu Ichiru; I grow less forgiving every minute."  
It was true. He could not run. He acknowledged that fact with sickening resignation. All that was left to do was numbly acquiesce; he took one step forward, then another. She was playing with him again, he told himself as he seated himself next to her. She would have her fun, scare him and then laugh madly about it for a while. That was all. That was all- her arm wrapped around his shoulders. His fingers bit into the fabric of the divan as he tried to swallow his fear.  
"Do you remember why I wanted you to bring someone back to this house?" she asked, her breath falling on his ear as she pulled him against her.  
"Give me some more time," he whispered, not daring to make his voice louder than hers. "There must be something else I can do. There must be-" Her fingers twisted in his hair, forcing his head to one side and he broke off. Panic was giving his breaths a short, staccato beat.  
"Because I was thirsty," she answered for him, completely ignoring his entreaty. "You came home with no prey for me at all so I have been suffering this whole time." Her other hand, still holding the fork, went to his collar to pull open the top buttons. The metal brushed against his skin.  
"To be honest," she confessed then, "I do not wish to turn you into a vampire…that would not do at all. What sort of revenge would it be to turn the unwanted child and leave the prodigious son intact…? Moreover, you are so much more interesting this way." She caressed his cheek with the back of her hand.  
"Then…forgive me," he supplied, his mouth dry. "Why don't you kill my parents instead? I'll even help you!" He stared up at a point on the ceiling, his neck bared to the pureblood vampire.  
"Sou, ne? I will do that too," she agreed easily, leaning in to run her tongue across his throat. He sucked in a sharp breath, shutting his eyes tightly. "Ichiru," she told him with a small smile, "this will hurt."  
She raised the fork and plunged it into his skin, the prongs piercing deeply at the juncture between his neck and shoulder. He let out a choked cry, jerking in her grasp but held motionless as her arm tightened around him. Pain lanced down passed his collarbone, sharp and hot as fangs. Pulling the bloodied fork from his flesh, Shizuka lowered her lips to the wound.  
"Itadakimasu."

o0O0o

Zero woke with a snarl that was half a shout of rage and half a scream of despair. The dream was vivid in his mind, a memory of pain searing through his neck haunting his nerves. It was midmorning and his ragged voice reverberated through his sunlit room. For a moment, he sat motionless, gasping for breath. A sickened feeling filled him- something akin to dread and mounting horror. Was it Ichiru? He placed his hand over his neck, trembling. The fear he felt, the anger, the pain- the emotions that were his and the ones that were not blurred together into a nonsensical mess.  
The door of his room opened, his mother entering with a worried expression. "Zero?" she asked gently. When he did not reply, she hesitantly approached him and sat down on the bed. "Were you dreaming?" Her eyes flitted over the hand he still held to his neck. "Vampires?"  
Zero stared blankly at the comforter, desperately trying to make sense of his dream. What had happened to Ichiru? Had that woman bitten him? Zero's hands clenched around the blanket, knuckles turning white.  
"Zero, it was only a dream," his mother soothed, reaching out to rest her hand on his head.  
"Don't touch me!" he snapped. He smacked her hand away, jerking his eyes up to glare at her hatefully. He watched her long enough to register the pain in her eyes. He stood up, disgusted. It wasn't enough. It was not nearly enough to cool the burning hatred he felt.  
"He was hurt…I'm sure of it," Zero murmured, his thoughts turning back to his twin. He ran a shaking hand through his hair, dying for an enemy he could fight. He could not fight Shizuka but he would try- if only he knew where she was…!  
Kaa-san let out a shaky breath. "Zero…we're all going through a lot…but I know you have it the hardest. If…if you would just talk to me-"  
"Why the hell would I want to talk to you?" he spat, whirling on her. "Get out of my room!"  
"Zero!" she exclaimed, angry at first then taken aback by the sheer loathing in his eyes. She retreated into herself, a weary, troubled look crossing her face as she stood. "Your breakfast is ready, Zero," she said softly. "Get dressed and come downstairs. Yagari-san will be here in an hour."  
"Whatever," he growled, slamming the door after her.  
Numbly, he directed himself through his morning routine, carelessly tugging on his clothes and brushing his teeth in the downstairs bathroom. He did not look his reflection in the eye.  
He had not gone to school the past few days, spending his time training and continuing lessons with Shishou. His parents seemed willing enough to allow him time away from regular studies and secretly delighted that he was so enthusiastic about fighting. As he perfected his skills, he imagined using them on his parents- maiming them in every possible as his thoughts became more and more stained with blood. To be honest, he did not give a damn about school anymore. What was the point? He had to get stronger. He had to kill Hiou Shizuka and that was it.  
His breakfast was some bread and salad. He scarcely felt like eating but keeping up his strength was important. He bit off a piece of bread not even tasting it as he stared into space. Kaa-san came out of the kitchen for a moment to bring him a fork for his salad. He picked it up, entertaining the thought of stabbing her with it as she left- then froze.  
It was a fork like any other- small for going inside bentous and eating simple meals. Something about the prongs caught his attention however and he stared, lulled into a daze by the unwavering image. The glinting metal utensil abruptly seemed monstrous, crafted to be a jagged row of hungry teeth. Feeling cold, he distantly raised one hand to touch the four puncture wounds that were lined up along his neck. Dull yet burning pain shivered through his skin.  
"Your face is pale."  
Kaa-san's voice snapped him out of his trance and he started. There was nothing on his neck. The fork he held actually looked rather cheery, its handle sheathed in white plastic and bearing blue stripes as decoration. Swallowing, he set it down on the table.  
"I want chopsticks," he told her.  
"Okay," she acquiesced, returning with a set.  
Shishou arrived some time later, his expression grimmer than usual and his single eye filled with shadows. He was wearing black from his coat to his hat, a cigarette in his mouth despite the early hour. He had been smoking a lot more recently. Even if Zero had come to despise the Association as a hive filled with corruption, he could not despise his mentor. Shishou was the sort of person who would gladly lose an eye before losing an apprentice, after all. The cigarettes, his expression and the drawn state of his face that suggested poor sleep all proved this.  
Mentor and apprentice said nothing to each other in greeting, Zero grabbing his coat and stepping into his shoes with only a glance at Shishou. Yagari nodded once to Kaa-san before walking back out the door. Wordlessly, they got into the car, Zero sitting in the back seat.  
His resolve was weakening.  
The commoners hired by his parents had spoken of 'the usual Association treachery' like such things were normal for the hierarchy of hunters. If that was true, how could Zero be certain that more hunters had not known of his brother's scheduled assassination? Shishou had been a close family friend for years. How could Zero be certain that his mentor had not known?  
That had been Zero's thinking in the beginning. The more time he spent with Shishou however, the more he craved a confidante- someone he could trust, someone who would help him. His mentor was the epitome of what was reliable and strong in Zero's eyes, a man who had saved his life. If he told Shishou what had truly happened, would his mentor know how to save Ichiru? Rather than waiting hopeless, bitter years during which his twin could be tortured or eaten or killed- could Yagari have Ichiru rescued and Shizuka dead in days?  
Shishou was not strong enough to kill a pureblood vampire, of course, but surely with some of his contacts they could track the monster down and reduce her to dust.  
Zero stared blankly at the back of Shishou's seat, desperate words burning on his lips. Just a little more time and he could be sure…  
"Do you feel well enough to fight?" Yagari asked suddenly, jarring Zero out of his thoughts.  
"Yes," Zero answered without pause.  
"Good," his mentor replied, "since I'm giving you your intern test today."  
Zero blinked, caught off guard. Interns were allowed to go on missions just the same as adult hunters but they were denied the higher level assignments and required an adult hunter partner with them. Even so, it was an enormous step up from being just a trainee- and Zero was not supposed to take the test for another two years. "You think I'm ready to become an intern, Shishou?" he questioned.  
"Ah," his teacher affirmed without any further explanation, single eye locked on the road. "Instead of training today, we will be going on a mission." He reached down beside his feet and retrieved a file, tossing it carelessly back to Zero with one hand. "That's the information on the target. I will be close by in case something goes wrong but otherwise, you will kill it alone."  
Zero did his best to hide the sudden wave of hunger that rose within him- a maddened, vicious craving for battle that came with the pain of the last few days. There was nothing he would rather do than kill vampires because all he could see was Shizuka's face, inhumanly beautiful and cruel.  
He looked down at the file, recognizing with anticipation that it was the same sort of mission file his parents received before assignments. The target was a level D, slowly losing its mind and preying on members of its community. It had killed three people already. There was a good change of stumbling across more victims, dead or injured. No mercy was to be given. The order was execution.  
Shishou drove him to an abandoned building inside a seedy residential area. The houses around it were normal enough, worn and falling in to disrepair but still showing signs of life. Laundry was strung on lines outside, cars parked in the driveways. The house they were to enter however was lifeless, windows dusted in a layer of grime and the porch littered with dead leaves. Zero stepped out of the car, reaching inside his coat to place a hand on the handle of his gun.  
"Zero," Shishou said, shutting the door behind him and walking up to stand behind his apprentice, "just make sure you put your weapon back in your coat once the mission is complete. I don't want to have to talk to the police about why you have a gun."  
"Right," Zero answered impassively, his eyes on the front door. He could sense the level D within- the second story of the house, if he was not mistaken. His eyes narrowed. He had once felt sympathy for ex-human vampires, the pain they injured while fighting a descent into madness. Shishou had lost his eye that day. Now, thanks to vampires and the corrupt humans who made deals with them, Ichiru was the hostage of a monster. Zero had no sympathy left.  
Without another word to Shishou, he strode forward, pausing at the front door to murmur a warding spell. The vampire would hear him coming; he did not want it to escape before he could confront it.  
He walked softly through the first floor of the house, his footsteps creaking every now and then on the rotten wood. The dust on the floor was riddled with tracks, some imprints left by boots and others in long lines across the floor as though someone had been dragged. The windows were boarded up, scarcely any sunlight managing to struggle within. The dwelling was in complete disrepair, a place that had been left to ruin for a long time- not a place the level D lived when retaining the last remnants of its sanity. This was where it came to kill and to eat.  
Its presence shifted about above as Zero ascended the stairs. It had sensed him but made no attempt to flee. It was coming to fight him. The young trainee deftly drew his gun, his eyes narrowing as he entered the top floor hallway.  
The vampire was a man who appeared to be in his late twenties; he was probably older, vampirism having slowed down the effects of time. He had a fairly normal appearance, his business suit fairly new and his hair neatly combed. There was fresh blood staining his mouth and collar however.  
He had not hidden his aura so the trainee was not caught off guard. When the level D sprung at him fangs bared, he easily dodged to one side and fired three rounds at the vampire's back. The first two connected, just missing the heart. The third whizzed past to puncture the wall as the target madly staggered out of the way. The vampire fell with his hand on the wall, gasping from the pain of the wound. Zero locked his arm, aiming the gun directly at the target's head from several paces away. The vampire turned, a bit of humanity in his eyes.  
"Please…" he rasped out. "I never meant to hurt them…" He held one hand out entreatingly to Zero. "Please don't kill me! It was the thirst! I only did it because of the thirst!"  
"You'll suffer less by dying," Zero told him coldly, pulling the trigger. Brains and blood splattered across the wall, the vampire's body immediately disintegrating into dust and his clothes falling limply to the floor. Zero lowered his arm, turning towards the backrooms in search of victims. He found a teenage girl lying on the floor but she was already dead, having died from blood loss only minutes perhaps before he arrived. As per Association protocol, he would put that in his report.  
As he was about to head downstairs, another vampiric presence triggered his senses. The ward set up outside only kept vampires from leaving; it did not prevent them from entering. From the strength of the aura, he judged that the newcomer was yet another level D. If it was uneducated as to its abilities, he doubted it would even have noticed the ward. Even so, wasn't Shishou covering the building? Zero's brow furrowed, as he checked the number of rounds left in his gun- three. He switched it for a full magazine from his coat pocket. Perhaps this was a continuation of the test.  
Another level D entered the building and he frowned. Perhaps it wasn't.  
"I smell blood."  
The distant voice just barely reached Zero's ears as he stood still, making as little noise as possible. His eyes scanned the room he was in- a shabby office, newspapers and tattered books strewn across the floor and a rickety desk in one corner. On light feet, he crossed the room to stand beside the door, his back to the wall.  
"I told him not to kill another one," the second level D groused downstairs in reply. "He just drank blood two days ago. He'll expose us all."  
"The police couldn't take us down," the other scoffed. "We're getting stronger every day."  
"Yeah, but I hear there's this organization that hunts our kind- wait…is that gunpowder…?"  
They were up the stairs in an instant, not bothering to mask their footsteps.  
"What the hell?!" one cried, "he's dead! Bullets- someone shot him!"  
"Nonsense- we can't be killed that easily!"  
They were scared. Impassively, Zero reached down to catch a hold of a book. Swiftly, he tossed it out the door into the other room.  
He heard them whisper to each other after that but he could not make out the words. He sensed one of them coming forward however, heading towards the room where the book had landed. He pressed himself against the wall, peering around the doorframe as its back came into view. He would kill it in one shot.  
He whirled into movement, spinning to aim through the doorway at the ex-human, both hands on his gun. The level D turned at the sound, eyes widening as the bullet left the barrel. He stumbled back but the round pierced straight through his chest, puncturing his heart. He fell backward, his body turning to dust before he hit the floor. The last vampire was flying at Zero the next instant, eyes blazing red with battle-maddened thirst.  
Zero threw himself out of the way, just missing a swipe of its clawed hands. He pivoted, bracing himself again and firing several shots at the vampire. Empty shells spun through the air, one bullet splintering a leg of the desk, another leaving a bloody gash through the level D's cheek and ear as it ripped its way forward. The vampire's face contorted, all semblance of humanity vanishing as it howled in pain. Moving in a blur, it whirled and bounded on top of the desk before launching itself through the air at Zero.  
The hunter trainee raised his gun. The ex-human was inches from the barrel when he fired, the bullet going through its heart and its dying body dousing Zero in dust.  
The trainee let out a shaken breath then grimly smiled, standing up to pull off the dead vampire's empty clothes from where they were draped over his head. The world had three less vampires. The accomplishment was hardly noteworthy- but it was a start.  
As he had thought, this test had been far too dangerous for a mere trainee. He had taken on three commoners before and nearly died. It was only due to luck that the circumstances had been favorable this time, even if level D's were less powerful. Something had prevented Shishou from interfering.  
Zero took a moment to slip the three bullets from the old magazine into his current one, left with six rounds. Then he left, leaving the dusty remains of the vampires behind and exiting through the front door.  
As he stepped out onto the porch, Yagari came running up to him, gun drawn and wearing an expression that was only suited for battle.  
"Zero," he said in a low voice, "you're alright. Thank goodness."  
"I killed them," Zero told him, taking in his teacher's appearance. . "What happened?" Despite Shishou's demeanor, his teacher didn't seem to have actually been involved in a fight yet. He was uninjured and his clothes were free of dust and blood  
"Them?" Yagari echoed sharply. "There was only supposed to be one?"  
"There were three," the trainee told him, "though the last two came later."  
"I see," his mentor said darkly, pride glinting in his eyes. "Well done, Zero. We will sort that mess out later. Right now, we need to leave the area as quickly as possible."  
"Tell me what's wrong," Zero insisted, remaining rooted to the ground as Shishou turned towards the car.  
Yagari glanced over his shoulder, his ice blue eye narrowing. "Purebloods. I've sensed two of them in the area."  
"Nani?" Zero breathed. He expanded his senses, searching for a brief moment and then abruptly hit with the same auras his teacher had mentioned. They were there- a mere block away, existing like fiery beacons in the middle of a pitch black night.  
"I've already called the Association, of course," Shishou continued, apparently losing his patience and dragging his apprentice by the shoulder towards the car. "They will send a qualified number of people to deal with the situation. I would scout out the area for more info but you're my first priority today. I'll have to miss this one."  
Zero barely heard him, his thoughts racing. Two purebloods…what would they be doing in an old residential area? There were only about thirty-five or so purebloods even alive and the chance of meeting others so soon was minimal at best.  
What were the chances of one of them being Shizuka?  
"Gomen, Shishou," Zero breathed out, tearing himself from his teacher's grasp. Without another word, he dashed off towards the auras of the most powerful vampires.


	4. Chapter Three

_(A/N Back to the good formatting. There is no need to review. Enjoy, if possible. -Doll)_

Chapter Three: Starved of Kindness

Zero's feet hammered against the pavement, each breath dragging air raggedly in and out of him as he dashed with all his might down the path. His mentor called frantically after him, anger and fear in his voice. Soon, however, the shouts completely faded away, Shishou doubtlessly deciding that any more yelling would draw attention to their position. Zero knew his teacher was following him but the senior hunter's cautious pace would give the apprentice plenty of time. Zero only needed to know one thing after all- even if it got him killed.

There were plenty of other people about, the slightly second-rate park getting plenty of use from the bedraggled inhabitants of the poor residential district. Children were playing on a swing, the hinges shrieking in protest as its laughing tormenters kicked their legs back and forth. Adults chatted here and there around the limited grassy plot, some sipping beer or tea, others reading papers. They were all staring at the man and woman at the corner though, discreetly wondering why such beautiful and well-dressed people would grace their shady neighborhood. None approached. None realized that one of those 'beautiful people' could murder them all with a mere _thought_.

Zero slowed to a halt before he reached the plot, subtly positioning himself by a wall next to a tired-looking old man. His eyes stayed locked on the purebloods, the color gone from his face even as he picked up a discarded newspaper from the ground and opened it.

It was Shizuka.

She stood talking to a tall, auburn-haired teenager with wine-red eyes, dark clothing and a darker expression. Zero had never seen him before nor was his knowledge of pureblood families good enough to place a name to the face. The trainee didn't give a damn about the boy however; Shizuka was right there in front of him, silver hair and kimono trailing in the cool breeze.

As much as he loathed to admit it, drawing his gun and trying to take on two of them at once would get him dead even faster than just attacking Shizuka. He could do nothing.

Zero released a low breath, closing his eyes and concentrating. Over the light buzz of conversation, the laughter and the distant sound of traffic, he could make out the words they were speaking. He listened.

"…it was hardly a deal, Kaname-san," Shizuka was saying, her soft voice barely reaching Zero's ears as she argued with the tall teenaged boy. "I never owed you anything and if I decided to change my mind, it is my affair."

"I gave you the hunters' names, if you recall," replied the teen, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "I assisted you with the wards on your cell."

"I didn't need your help," she hissed out, looking away moodily and glancing around the little park. Her eyes passed over Zero as if she did not see him- or as if he was beneath her notice. "Regardless of the past, if you intrude now, I will take offense."

The teen stared at her blandly for a moment before adopting a more diplomatic expression. The smoothness of his words set Zero's teeth on edge. "We have on our hands a difficult situation, Shizuka-san. Usually our kind lets it stand that the first one to see the prize owns the prize- and I was the first to see those two children. You only knew of their existence after your beloved was murdered."

"Sou ne," she replied softly, "and because of the debt his parents incurred, they are mine now; not yours. Did you forget that hunters are not like regular humans to us purebloods? Humans may be claimed at any moment but hunters all belong to the Parent. Normal rules do not apply. I, however, was wronged by them and will take the remuneration of blood I deserve."

"I see it as you taking my possessions from me," the pureblood bastard- Zero already hated him- called Kaname stated simply.

"Then there is to be conflict between us," Shizuka concluded regretfully, finally looking back at him. "Such a shame it will be when there is one less Kuran in the world…"

"Our power is equal, Shizuka-san," Kaname pointed out. "You should not see me as a child."

"I do not," she denied, plucking at the sleeve of her kimono. She gestured towards Zero, suddenly choosing to acknowledge his existence. "I simply made a promise to protect that boy and…_your _desire is for him to be turned. I cannot let you harm him."

"I care not if you are the one to turn him," Kaname said coldly. "I told you that before- when you promised you _would_."

"As I said, I have changed my mind," she replied irately. "What would you have me do if you don't wish to fight?"

"We must come to a compromise," the teen insisted, his voice compelling enough to coax birds down from trees. Shizuka arched on eyebrow.

"Very well," she relented, "it will truly be a deal this time. I would have you relinquish all rights to the children- to me. What do you wish in exchange?"

Kaname took a step closer, meeting Zero's steady gaze . "I will tell you, Shizuka-san, but not where he may hear."

Shizuka nodded agreeably. "Do not stray close to him again then, Kuran boy. I will meet with you on another occasion to discuss it."

He inclined his head graciously. "I am glad for the chance. We would be dangerous enemies to each other, without a doubt." He turned away, raising one hand in farewell as he made to leave. "I will send word. Wait for it." Shizuka said nothing in reply, looking after him with an expression of distaste.

"Shizuka," Zero said lowly after a moment, knowing she would hear him no matter how quietly he spoke. He released the newspaper, letting it fall to the ground at his feet.

She met his gaze across the lot, a sweet and beautiful smile brightening her features. She looked like a radiant angel, her eyes shining with warmth and sincerity. The hatred Zero felt nearly made him sick. Her mouth shaped his name. She raised one hand and beckoned him to her. He took a step forward, reaching for his gun.

"_Zero_." A hand forcefully caught his shoulder, Shishou suddenly appearing by his side. The one-eyed hunter regarded Shizuka warily, his entire body tensed as he pulled his apprentice back. "Come, stupid boy, we must go. We have no business here."

To Yagari's obvious dread, Shizuka continued to smile and approached. Zero said nothing, not resisting his mentor's grasp but keeping his hand firmly on the gun in his jacket. Could he kill her with one shot if he hit her heart? The way she calmly walked towards them said 'no'. Her despicable smile said 'no'. The loathing within him seethed and claimed it could swallow anything- anyone.

"I mean you no harm, Hunter-san," Shizuka greeted Shishou pleasantly, her voice soft.

"Likewise," Shishou replied guardedly, stepping neatly in front of Zero. "I hope we can both go about our business."

"Of course," she assured him, the picture of benevolence. She seemed perfectly harmless, as though she were nothing more than a slender woman with delicate wrists and flowing, white hair. Her malicious aura stabbed at their senses, sharply contradicting the visual impression she gave. She glanced at Zero. "Your apprentice is quite adorable, isn't he? Was he successful with his test?"

"He was," Shishou affirmed simply, his single eye trained so hard on her that he scarcely blinked. He did not ask her how she knew of Zero's trial. Hunters simply accepted that purebloods would always know too much.

"How fortuitous," she murmured in response, "though I'm sure his triumph was due to more than luck alone. Slaughtering pitiable level D vampires, after all, is a family occupation."

"They were not pitiable," Zero spoke up, his voice devoid of emotion. "They had murdered many people without remorse; death is what they deserved."

"Zero-" Yagari snapped harshly, a wild note in his voice.

"Sou yo, ne," Shizuka agreed gently and the curve of her lips seemed more genuine than before. "Murderers deserve death."

"And death they will have," Zero promised her.

"By the way, Zero," she said suddenly after watching him a moment, "I have a present for you." She reached for something tucked into her obi. Its metal glinted in the sunlight.

She held out the simple, four pronged fork.

"Might I inquire as to what he should do with that?" Shishou questioned politely, steel underlying his civil tone. "I fear the ways of your kind are occasionally lost on us."

Her sakura-colored eyes flitted to the gray utensil, inspecting it closely. "He should remember that in this hungry world, no one is worthy of trust." She extended the fork; Zero took it wordlessly. "Good," she smiled.

Then she was standing behind him, one arm wrapped around his shoulders as she whispered in his ear. "I know you want to tell your teacher what I have done but believe me, he is as guilty as your parents are, Zero," she said, her breath falling hotly on his ear. "If you cannot see even that, then I will make it more easy for you; tell anyone that Ichiru is alive and I won't use a _fork _the next time I want his blood."

She released him just as suddenly, glancing with disinterest at the blade Shishou was holding to her throat. "It was nice coming back to Japan," she told the senior hunter musingly as if nothing had just happened. With that, she turned and left, her silk-wrapped figure vanishing around the corner. Her aura disappeared moments later; with her incredible speed, she could have left the country in that short time only.

Zero stared at the ground, his knuckles white as he gripped the fork.

Shishou whirled on him. "Are you addled, boy?!" he snarled, his tone hushed but furious. "That was a _pureblood vampire! _You could have been bitten! You could be _dead!_ Do you think that were I to sacrifice my other eye, it would be enough to save you from the mad princess Hiou Shizuka?!"

Zero could not speak. That Shishou had lost an eye to save him from a level E had always weighed heavy on him but this time, the words did not even register in his mind. He was thinking about cherry blossom eyes and about the half of himself that he could not save. The pressure was so stifling that he could shatter into a million pieces- and he would have except nothing would come of it. Ichiru would still be in that _monster's _hands.

"Did you think you were being brave?" Yagari railed on, dragging his unresponsive apprentice down the sidewalk towards the car. "Or did the grief of losing Ichiru make you suicidal?" The were away from the park now, the abandoned house coming back into view with each of Shishou's quick steps. He was yelling now, his voice trembling, his eye locked on the path before them. "_You may not mean a damn thing to yourself, Zero, but if I lose you too, I swear on my life_-"

Shishou stopped abruptly, his voice too choked to continue. Zero somehow found the strength to look up at him, confronted with the maddened agony in his teacher's ice blue eye. It was ironic, then, that Shizuka had said not to trust Yagari because the whole incident had simply erased Zero's doubts. This person had taught him and sacrificed for him and cared more about Ichiru than their own parents did. Shishou could not possibly have had a hand in the younger twin's fate. Zero trusted him completely.

It no longer mattered however. That spark of hope had already been crushed.

The threat had been delivered quite clearly; any attempt to seek help for his brother would result in the end. If Zero confided in his mentor, Ichiru would be turned into a vampire.

o0O0o

"_It's fine, Ichiru. Just sit down." _

How many times had Ichiru heard those words? He had too many memories, moment after moment of undermined determination and bitter disappointment. Sometimes he had tried to the best of his ability and failed. Sometimes he had been stopped before he even took the first step. The endeavor did not matter. His illness closed all doors, barred all freedoms and made impossible all achievements. So he had sat down and watched a person completely identical to himself do everything.

Ichiru ran.

He ran down the hallways. He ran up and down the stairs. He ran in circles inside the massive ballroom he had finally located, his rapid footsteps casting echoes around the walls. Breaths tore in and out of his lungs, air pumping through him as he flung his body at full force across so much distance. He continued on like that for a perceptual eternity, his muscles aching and then screaming at him to stop- but he didn't because he was not dizzy at all and he could keep going forever. He was not going to pass out. He was not going to fall over like the weak, half of a person he had always been.

When he finally allowed himself to collapse, he tumbled down onto the floor and stared up at the ceiling as his chest heaved and his heart pounded. The marble beneath him was cool against his skin, seeming to pull him down against it as its touch spread through him. He could see the hole in the ceiling above where a thrall had fallen to its death just the other day. It was really high up, he noted. Recalling the most recent events of his life should have dampened his spirits but instead he grinned, incurably happy.

It was worth it. The pain was worth it. The weariness was worth it. He hoped Shizuka sent a thousand more mindless thralls to kill him. He hoped she challenged him every instant of his life. When he finally caught his breath, he began to laugh, closing his eyes. The insane pureblood vampire had healed him so that he could better play her games but now he could _live_. He felt like thanking her. Hell, he felt like _hugging _her- human doctors could not have done this! The fear he had endured while trapped in her embrace paled against the burning exultation of his spirit.

He could beat Zero.

Eventually he got up and collected himself. He got a new change of clothes from the thrall in the kitchen and took a bath; he hadn't had time last night before he collapsed and he needed to wash the blood from his neck. Luckily Shizuka had at the very least healed his injury so he was not sporting a fork-shaped line of puncture wounds. That was good since he heard they were not the most fashionable of injuries. When he was clean, he dried his hair vigorously with a towel and felt simply great for probably the first time in his life.

He sensed Shizuka's vampiric presence long before she actually entered the house so he was able to make his way to the entrance hall in time to greet her. She was dressed in a white kimono as usual, looking too beautiful to be real and too elegant to be the capricious epitome of lunacy that she actually was. There was a weariness to her movements however, a darkness in her eyes that spoke of dangerous thoughts. If Ichiru had been remotely sensible, he would have pretended to just be passing through the large room and exited her company as quickly as possible. He resolutely ignored his better judgment however and took a chance, bowing deeply and fixing a smile on his face.

"Okaerinasai, Hiou-sama," he cheerfully welcomed the pureblood vampire as she stepped inside and shut the door behind her.

She stilled, blinking at him. He already knew that she was not the most expressive person and could therefore fathom that this was probably the closest to stunned shock he would ever see on her face. She had doubtlessly been expecting him to be cowering in a corner somewhere. It suddenly became a lot easier to smile. He had managed to surprise _Hiou Shizuka_. With the mood he was currently in, it was all he could do not to laugh.

"Tadaima," she said belatedly after a few long moments of silence. "You slept well, I take it?"

"Very well," he beamed, "thank you."

"Sou, ne?" she deadpanned. "There is nothing more conducive to a good night's rest than passing out from blood loss."

He had sort of walked into that one. He shrugged in response, not particularly wanting to affirm the assertion. She might decide to 'help' him get a good night's rest _more often_.

"I've had a long day," she told him abruptly, crossing the hall to where he stood. "I had to go protect your brother."

"Zero?" Ichiru questioned, the mention of his twin immediately catching his undivided interest.

"Another pureblood strayed close to him," she imparted, her voice low as though she was telling him a secret, "in order to get my attention. Terrible things are sure to happen if that person is getting involved. I wonder if either of us will die."

"Killing you can't be such an easy task, Hiou-sama," Ichiru replied quietly, sifting through her words for something that made sense to him. Who had tried to get close to Zero?

"Would you like me to tell you how to do it?" she queried playfully, tucking a strand of his hair behind his ear. "Would you like to murder me in my sleep?"

"No," he answered, surprised to find that he meant it. It was senseless. It was demented- but was she not the best thing that had ever happened to him? He could happily be the slave of a mistress who was a living fountain of good health.

She stared at him for a while, her sakura-colored eyes unreadable. "Why did you greet me so brightly, Ichiru?" she asked, dropping the previous topic. "Are you not afraid of me now?"

"I'm afraid of you," he admitted quietly, knowing by now that a veracious answer was the only sort she would accept, "but I'm grateful too. You healed my illness."

"Do not fool yourself," she scoffed, contempt crossing her face. "I only estranged you from your weakness so that I could be more cruel to you. It was certainly not a kindness."

He had already known that and didn't flinch. "I prefer Hiou-sama who is honestly cruel to my parents who lied to me all of my life," he said impassively, refusing to look away.

"Falsehood is gentler than the truth," she argued softly.

"I was never deceived." Ichiru shook his head. "Not by them."

She expelled a low breath, her lips curving into a small smile. "I like you," she conceded after a pause. "Perhaps I will be kind to you sometimes." She turned away, walking past him towards the stairs. "Not now, of course. Right now, I am going to sleep because I am exhausted and I had to deal with one of those infernal Kurans. Pity me, Ichiru; it was no pleasant task."

"My sympathies, Hiou-sama," Ichiru offered automatically.

She laughed at that but soon continued. "You have just woken up so I expect you to be productive. Go outside; there is a driver waiting to take you on a trip- one of my thralls, of course. He will tell you what to do after that."

"Understood," he acquiesced, inclining his head in a respectful, mindless-slave-like fashion. "Oyasuminasai, Hiou-sama."

"I will," she assured him, walking up the stairs. "Congratulations, by the way, on becoming an intern."

"What?" he asked but she was already gone, completely ignoring his confusion. He shook his head after a moment, thinking he deserved congratulations more for surviving another encounter with her than anything else. She was either referring to her meeting with Zero or his ambiguous upcoming task. He decided not to worry about it.

He was also fairly certain that 'Kuran' was the name of a prominent pureblooded family. That meant that the pureblood who had endangered Zero was one of them. Why were so many ridiculously powerful vampires interested in him and his brother? Shizuka had a good alibi at least. If Ichiru found out that his parents had killed a Kuran's lover _too_, he would just give up right then and there.

He stepped out into the crisp, late autumn air shooting the gray sky above a resigned look. A car was indeed awaiting him in the circular driveway of the mansion, black and sleek-looking. Ichiru trooped over to it, opening the backseat door and slipping inside. The blank-faced man in the driver's seat did not turn as he did. Ichiru greeted him companionably, familiarized with the mindless state of Shizuka's servants to the point of being completely unimpressed.

"Okay," he prompted mildly. "What sinister plans does our mistress have in store for us today?"

"We will be visiting a hunter safe house," the thrall intoned inflectionlessly as it stepped on the gas pedal, steering the car out of the driveway and down the road beyond. "You are to access the safe house's databanks and make note of any unusual information concerning the Kuran family. You will be impersonating your brother, Kiryuu Zero, as he has recently been promoted to Association hunter intern." The thrall reached into his pocket, retrieving a black little booklet that reminded Ichiru of a passport.

The silver-haired boy took it from him, flipping it open to find a picture of his own face- or rather, Zero's- and his brother's information listed out in two languages beside it. Unlike trainees, interns had access to the Association database as well as its easiest available missions that they could undertake with approval from their mentor. Usually, such an honor was reserved for fifteen year olds who passed their intern test but somehow Zero had been allowed to take it at twelve. Ichiru glared bitterly at his brother's photograph. Zero's future was all set up, wasn't it? Now that the elder twin did not have some sickly little brother to hold him back, he could become the greatest hunter in Association history. How nice.

He fell asleep at some point while waiting for the ride to be over. When he awoke, they were still driving and the passport had fallen out of his hands onto the floor of the car. He stooped over to pick it up, rubbing at his eyes as he again glanced at the photograph. Anyone looking at it could tell that its subject possessed absolutely no sense of humor. Zero had never figured out how to smile properly. Even when he did discard his stoic expression, it came out more as a broken and scary-looking grimace. Ichiru shook his head fondly, suddenly overcome with the desire to see his twin. It was such a strong feeling that it almost panicked him- as if being away from Zero was _wrong _somehow, more wrong than being in a foreign country where he barely spoke the language and more wrong than being ripped from his life to serve an insane, blood-drinking mistress.

Realizing the nature of his thoughts, he clenched his teeth and shoved the ID into his coat pocket. He did not need Zero! Shizuka had neatly fixed _that _problem. He did not ever want to see Zero again. The elder twin could suffer and suffer not knowing whether Ichiru was alive or dead. _If he even cares anymore_, Ichiru's thoughts traitorously whispered.

"In that case, he can go ahead and die," Ichiru murmured to himself. He would just have to detain Shizuka the next time she went off to save Zero. There was another pureblood trying to eat the elder twin? Great. Go offer the vampire a packaged moist napkin with which to clean his hands before the meal.

"We are here," the thrall announced, startling Ichiru out of his rather ironic thoughts.

He looked out of the car, critically eyeing the multistory building. They seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, long fields stretching out in either direction. The presumed 'safe house' looked practically abandoned, a rundown stone wall surrounding it and its wooden structure desperately needing a new paint job. He sighed, stepping out of the car and shutting the door behind him. Once he was outside, he could sense the thick barrier of wards that encompassed the building, almost tangible enough to touch. It prickled on his skin as he passed through, reluctantly allowing him access.

He trooped up onto the rickety porch and opened the front door, cringing slightly as it shrieked on its hinges. The inside of the house sharply contrasted the exterior however and he blinked a few times in surprise. The décor was strikingly modern, the floors wooden and smooth, the walls clean and white. He had entered a common room of some sort and a few hunters sat around it, drinking and writing reports. At the back of the room, there was a desk and a woman standing behind it, typing away on a computer.

Ichiru moved forward cautiously, drawing the gazes of the other hunters. They were westerners and he doubted very much that they spoke Japanese. His fingers tightened around his ID and he crossed the room to the desk.

"I need to see…" he began in halting English, searching for the correct word, "the databanks."

"The databanks are off limits to trainees," the woman informed him crisply, sparing him only a cursory glance before focusing again on her work. "Go back to your mentor."

"I am an intern," he said, shoving his ID at her.

She scowled, plucking it from his fingers and opening the booklet. Her eyes scanned over the page, her eyebrows raising. "Zero Kiryuu?" she questioned, badly mispronouncing the name. She spoke quickly, making it difficult to understand her words. "Twelve years old, passed his internship test _yesterday.._." She released a huff, looking up. "Hey, Hills, did you get any memos from the Japanese Association about a _kid _coming over?"

One of the hunters in the common room shrugged. "Nope," he replied.

When it was clear that she would get no further elaboration, she released a low growl, tossing the ID back to Ichiru. "Go ahead," she instructed moodily. "This ID is genuine at the very least. Look up what you need and get gone- fast. This isn't a baby sitting agency." "Yes, ma'am," Ichiru replied, picking up that she was allowing him to see the databanks and not much else. He had been in safe houses before and knew where to go from there, heading through a door behind her desk into the hallway beyond. There was a staircase in the back leading up to the bedrooms and several doors on either side. He glanced into them until he found an office full of computers. He entered and sat down at one of the desks, shaking the mouse to wake the device.

He opened up the Association's online files, relying on Shishou's past instruction to navigate the page. Everything was in English but he found a convenient little box that switched the site's languages. Once the website was moderately legible again, he typed 'Kuran' into the search box and opened up the file.

A slew of results came up, six or seven files presenting increasingly outdated pictures of beautiful pureblood vampires with rich brown hair and wine-red eyes. All but two of them were marked deceased and he skipped quickly to the most recent files, Kuran Kaname and Kuran Rido.

Kuran Kaname was young, only fifteen years old and new to his powers. Nothing was known about his abilities. His parents, Juuri and Haruka had committed suicide together when he was eight, leaving him orphaned. According to the Association's records, he lived in the custody of the Vampire Council, a ward of the powerful Ichijou family. There had been no recent sightings of him and no threats against humankind or the Association.

Kuran Rido was centuries old and Kaname's uncle, the sibling of both Juuri and Haruka. He had been seen conjuring up many blood whips in battles. He had frequently displayed aggression towards the Association, other vampire families and humans. He was labeled as unpredictable and highly dangerous, not to be approached under any circumstances. He had relations with the Shiki family and close ties to the Vampire Council. He had gone missing seven years ago and had not been sighted since.

"What a piece of work," Ichiru murmured, blandly scanning over all the incident reports that had been filed about Rido. Something caught his eye at the top of the page and he froze, his jaw dropping open in shock. "Eh?! His fiancé is Hiou Shizuka?!" Ichiru covered his eyes with one hand, his shoulders slumping. "She could have _mentioned _that. Is this lunatic going to show up? Do I have to deal with _two _insane purebloods?"

Glaring at the screen, he clicked on the link to Shizuka's profile. She was also several hundred years old, mentions of her dating back to the mid-Edo period. In vampire circles, she was often called the Kuruizaki-hime- or Madly Blooming Princess- as her presence often caused flowers to bloom out of season. She had grown up in Council Custody, locked in a cage and isolated from the world. The Hiou family had a tendency towards madness. Shizuka herself was labeled insane and not to be approached under any circumstances. There was no available photograph of her, though her features were described; Ichiru wryly resolved to take one and upload it onto the site.

When he looked down to recent activity, he discovered two highly interesting reports. One had been filed several hours ago, reporting her appearance in Japan. Shishou had written it. He read over the file quickly. Yagari had detailed her worrying interest in Zero and a full description of the area. Disinterested, Ichiru clicked back to the earlier report. It had taken place several years ago and noted Hiou Shizuka's disappearance from Council custody. There was a mission ordered several months from the present and Ichiru recognized it as the assignment his parents had accepted to kill Shizuka's beloved. He was not able to access the file however; it was restricted for high-ranking users only. He sighed and clicked out of the website, standing up.

"They locked her in a room all her life," he murmured, slightly overwhelmed by the information. "No wonder she turned out so messed up."

According to the files, even Kaname had been given a horrible childhood. What sort of parents gave up on life when their son was only eight years old? Ichiru shook his head bitterly. Perhaps something about the constant war between vampires and hunters made familial love shrivel up and die.

He reentered the common room, heading for the door. The hunter named Hill's caught his elbow as he passed by.

"Hey, kid," Hills said, a grin on his face. "You got your weapon yet?"

Ichiru stared at him for a moment, processing the foreign words. "No," he said finally. "Not an official one."

Hills nodded. "Your Association is going to hook you up with a katana, I reckon. They'll let trainees have those little guns for safety's sake but once you're an intern, bam! They only want you to use blades. Japan's ban on firearms is too much paperwork for the sake of hotheaded teenagers; they won't let you have another gun until you are a fully trained hunter."

"I like blades," Ichiru shrugged, understanding about one third of what he said.

"Take this," Hills said slyly, pressing a wrapped object into Ichiru's hand. He glanced conspiratorially around the room, making sure none of the other hunters were looking. "You still shoot, don't you? Janet over there has been screeching at me to get rid of it 'cause it always goes '_boom_!' and ruins her stealth attacks. Too much fire power. You're a bloody prodigy if you are an intern so young and you're going to need a last resort. Trust me, kid; trainees have it tough. Take the sword or whatever they give you and when you need to get something dead fast, use this little baby. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," Ichiru nodded and took the bundle, wondering what he was agreeing to. "I got it. Got it." He left the safe house, raising one hand in a careless wave to the unimpressed secretary as he did. The thrall was still waiting outside and he got back into the car, slumping down in the seat. His driver said nothing in greeting and started the engine. Soon they were speeding down the road once more.

Ichiru opened up the bundle, discovering a big holster and gun within. He extracted the silver weapon from its holder and held it carefully in his hands. "Sugoi- is this a desert eagle?" he exclaimed, turning it over to look at the symbols etched into the metal. He checked the chamber and the rounds, finding it fully loaded. "Point fifty," he noted, a grin splitting across his face. "This is _great_, Mr. Mindless Thrall. I think it's a custom weapon; westerners are crazy, giving these away. Do you think Hiou-sama will let me keep it?"

He fell asleep again half way through the ride. He was beginning to think the car had some sort of soporific enchantment on it. To his surprise, the sun was beginning to set outside when he awoke.

They finally arrived at the mansion and he got out of the car, not bothering to say farewell to his uncommunicative driver. Mildly, he wondered if Shizuka was awake yet and if she was in an 'I'll be kind to you sometimes' mood or an 'I will turn you into a monster' mood. He held his gun tighter, assuring himself that, if she threw a bunch of thralls at him, he would use his new toy first and ask for forgiveness later.

When he got to the front door, he froze, a chilling feeling running up his spine. He deliberated for a moment, trying to figure out what he had sensed; then he realized. There were two pureblood vampires within the house.

He heard the sound of shattering glass and a choked cry from a woman's throat. He drew the gun, dashing in through the front door without another thought.

Shizuka and Kuran Kaname stood locked in a fierce struggle by the stairs, a vase having shattered moments before. She was bent backwards over the banister, strain on her face as she held off a sword with her bare hands. Kaname's expression was calm, as stoic as it had been in his Association photograph, pressing the hunter blade steadily closer as blue lightening crackled around her hands and blood welled in gashes from her palms. Both purebloods shook with the tension of their battle, their gazes locked and their concentration focused to a point where they could not recognize anything else. Neither looked up as he entered the room.

The blade cut deeper into Shizuka's palms and her jaw clenched, droplets of blood rolling down her arms. Ichiru did not hesitate another moment. He raised his newly acquired gun and fired six rounds into Kaname's back.

The first four connected before the pureblood jerked away, staggering away from Shizuka. She reacted smoothly, wrenching the sword from his gasp and slashing it diagonally across his torso. Blood flooded across his black shirt and he dodged out of the way as she cut at him again. He glanced around the room for a brief second, his wine-red eyes locking with Ichiru. Then he was gone, quick as a lightning bolt as he disappeared out the front door. His vampiric presence faded, signaling that he had indeed fled.

"So that is how you think, Kuran boy," Shizuka murmured to herself, releasing a shaken breath and leaning against the banister. "Strike at the opportune moment and if that moment ceases to be, flee until a new one appears." She smiled darkly, a bitter laugh on her lips. "He was such a cute, polite child when he was younger. Somehow, it seems he is just marginally stronger than I am. He could really have killed me."

"Hiou-sama," Ichiru interrupted, holstering his gun and walking quickly up to her. "Are you alright?" She blinked, her eyes focusing on him intently. "You saved my life," she murmured.

"Your hands are bleeding," he noted, dismayed at how much blood was falling from the wounds. "Come with me!" He took her elbow and guided her up the stairs. She did not resist, following compliantly along as he led her to the kitchen.

The thrall there was still standing stupidly by the sink and Ichiru addressed him sharply. "Get bandages!" he ordered. "Do you have a first aid kit? Get something!"

The thrall inclined its head and left to retrieve the items. Ichiru sat Shizuka down in a chair and grabbed a swath of paper towels, pressing them down over her palms to stop the bleeding. He remembered Shishou telling him how dangerous blood loss was.

"Do you feel light headed?" he questioned, studying her pale face.

"Sou," she affirmed, staring at him as he held her wounded hands to the table. Her expression was unreadable, her gaze unwavering.

The thrall returned and set a thoroughly stocked first aid kit down on the table. Ichiru checked Shizuka's wounds, relieved to see that the paper towels had slowed the flow of blood. He opened the kit and took out a roll of bandages, tightly gripping Shizuka's wrist as he wound the gauze around her palm. When the blood stopped seeping through, he tied the bandage tightly and set to wrapping her other hand.

"Do you feel nauseas at all?" he asked the pureblood, concentrating intently on his task.

"A bit," she told him.

"Could you eat something if you tried?" he pressed.

"Yes, I think so," she replied.

He glanced over his shoulder at the thrall. "Make her something with carbohydrates, please," he instructed, watching as the mindless servant immediately set to work. "Maybe soba noodles; Shishou told me grains were good for blood loss." He finished with her bandages and closed the medicine kit. "Do you need to lie down, Hiou-sama?" he asked her, still worried. From the depth of the cuts, anyone else would have passed out already. "I can bring you your food when it's finished."

"Yes, I would like to lie down," she agreed, her eyes still locked on his face. He helped her up out of the chair and she leaned on him, one arm around his shoulders as he helped her from the kitchen. He brought her to her bedroom and eased her down onto the sheets. He pulled a blanket over her shoulders as she relaxed onto the bed.

"I'll be back soon," he promised. He was about to leave when a thought struck him. Kaname had attacked her with a hunter weapon; all by herself, would she be safe? He put his gun in her hand. "If Kuran Kaname comes back, shoot him, okay, Hiou-sama?"

"Where on earth did you get Bloody Rose?" she asked blankly, shaking her head. She did not press him however and sleepily closed her eyes, the gun held loosely in her slender fingers.

He left the bedroom, carefully shutting the door behind him.

Then he realized what was strange about the whole situation.

A human would experience dizziness, nausea and exhaustion after bleeding a great deal. Shizuka, however, was a vampire. According to their physiology, vampires only experienced thirst after sustaining an injury- and that was assuming that the injury had been caused by a hunter's weapon. Shizuka's cuts had not healed by themselves because Kaname had attacked her with an anti-vampire blade. All she needed to heal however was blood, Ichiru's perhaps or even that of her thrall.

Instead, she had calmly affirmed that she was light-headed, nauseas and wanted to lie down. The thrall in the kitchen was making her _soba noodles. _

Ichiru ran his fingers back through his hair, bewildered. It had been his mistake to push medical care onto her. Why on earth had she allowed him to?

He brought her the noodles as he had promised to, nervously reentering the shadowed bedroom. She was motionless on the bed, her eyes closed and her silver hair fanned out over the sheets. She held the silver gun in one bandaged hand. There was a small smile lurking about her lips, the first real one he had ever seen on her face. She looked peaceful and content, the loneliness that was always hanging about her gone while she slept.

He suddenly remembered the cold words written in her profile, how she had been locked in a cage since birth, growing up in the unloving darkness. Perhaps for a moment, she had just craved kindness.

He set the bowl of steaming noodles on the bedside table and left.


End file.
